


Why Not?

by Alex_In_Their_Own_Wonderland



Series: Why Not? [1]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: F/F, F/M, M/M, Multi, Other, Slow Burn
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-17
Updated: 2019-07-25
Packaged: 2019-09-20 21:08:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 27
Words: 30,603
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17030052
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Alex_In_Their_Own_Wonderland/pseuds/Alex_In_Their_Own_Wonderland
Summary: You escaped HYDRA when you were younger, but you weren't able to save your parents. So, you re-entered society as an orphan, hoping to get adopted by a nice family and leave HYDRA and all its monstrosities behind you. Unfortunately, you were put in a horrible foster home, with two people who only wanted you for the money the government sent to pay for you.Things continued like this for a few years, until a curious Tony Stark appeared in you life, changing everything.





	1. The Day It All Started

As you walked home from school, you couldn't help but feel awful. Your life wasn't awful, you knew people who had it "worse", yet everything  _felt_  awful.

Your foster parents said it was because you were a teenager, your friends said you were probably mentally fucked, and you'd decided that you just– didn't have the opportunity to feel overjoyed most of the time. You were too busy focusing on the things and people around you.

It didn't really make a lot of sense, but you'd decided your problems were just normal things that you needed to get over, and you always shrugged off any other feelings telling you otherwise.

There were a few days where you didn't shrug everything off, where you listened to how weird everything felt, the feeling that something wasn't right.

Today was one of those days.

You knew shit was about to go down as soon as you'd seen the vibrantly colored car parked in your driveway. You didn't know what type of car it was, but you knew from the design and paint job that it had to be expensive.

The next thing that told you life was different, was the fact that the great Tony Stark was in your living room, chatting with your 'father', Jerry, about the car parked outside.

This had to be about your abilities, and how Mr. Stark had found out about them was beyond you, but you were more concerned about what he was going to say while he was here. Your foster parents didn't know about your abilities, after all.

You closed the door with more force than usual, causing Mr. Stark and your 'guardians' to flinch and look in your direction. You didn't bother to put on a fake look of surprise or plaster on an empty smile like your 'guardians' had, instead choosing to look at Mr. Stark with a blank expression, a sigh escaping your lips as you looked over to your 'father'.

"Did you get a new job?" you ask, ignoring Mr. Stark's presence. You loved the guy, sure, but that didn't mean you wanted him here, with these awful people.

Jerry cracked a grin, trying to hide how frustrated you'd just made him as he spoke, "They said they'd get back to me, but I'm hoping." he answered cheerfully.

"So I'll take that as a no." you nodded and looked to Mr. Stark, the corner of your lip turning up slightly as you began to walk past them and over to the stairs.

"Y/n." Jerry called, his voice sending awful shivers up your spine, "We have a guest."

You ignored him, continuing to walk up the stairs, "I know, he's rich too,  _just_ your type, huh?" you smiled to yourself, even if you knew you'd pay for it later, "I'll be right down, I just have to put my bag in the room." you called, not bothering to look back at Jerry's probably angry expression.

As promised, you were back downstairs within a few minutes, now noticing your foster mother, Janet, sitting in the armchair. This meant you'd either have to sit next to Jerry or Mr. Stark.

Ha, like that was a hard decision to make.

You gladly walked over and sat next to Mr. Stark on the couch, crossing your legs and sighing as you looked over to the man next to you with tired eyes.

"Y/n, this is–"

"Anthony Edward Stark. I'm aware." you cut Jerry off, rolling your eyes as you extended a hand, "Be sure to keep your keys and wallet close, and don't be afraid to leave when you get uncomfortable." you joked. It was pretty close to the truth though, your foster parents liked sucking rich people dry, but they didn't always have the opportunity, so...

Mr. Stark took your hand and shook it, "I'll keep that in mind, but I was just waiting to talk to you. Do you mind if we step outside and talk for a sec?" he asked, nodding towards the front door.

You shrugged and started to get up when Jerry stopped you.

"I don't think that's a good idea." he started, "It's freezing outside."

Tony just chuckled, "So? She has a jacket, doesn't she?" he asked, then shrugged, "Don't worry, we'll be fine."

With that being said, the two of you went outside.

The crappy part about being this far north? It got cold outside. Thankfully, that part didn't really bother you, but the slipping and falling on the ice  _did._

Unfortunately, not even the great Tony Stark saw the fall coming.

The impact of the cold and hard sidewalk knocked the air out of your lungs, but you got over it quickly, stammering a thousand apologies as Mr. Stark helped you up.

Now you had a couple of small cuts on your hands, but the cool November air helped with the stinging.

"Are you alright kiddo?" Mr. Stark asked, gazing down at you with concerned eyes, "Cause that was quite the fall there."

You shrugged it off, letting your mask fall, "I've had worse falls. I'll be fine." you smiled, "Besides, you're probably here to talk to me about what happened when I was smaller and younger, right? Don't wanna get in the way of that."

Mr. Stark just quirked a brow, "Am I that obvious?" he asked, half joking.

You chuckled, "Nah, I'm just that good." you waved a dismissive hand, casting a worried look to the house behind him. You wondered if Jerry was still in the living room. Could he see the two of you?

"You okay kid? Cause you're looking at that house like it's haunted."

You nodded, "Yeah, I'm fine," you answered, looking back at Tony, who was standing before you, unamused.

"Okay kid, you're obviously lying." He deadpanned, "So why don't we try this again. Where I ask and you tell me the truth and I try to help, okay?" His voice was kinder than Jerry's but it still reminded you of him, and you hated that.

"Firstly, I'm almost eighteen, so I'm not a kid. Secondly, why would you care about what happens in my foster home, anyway?" you asked. You'd hoped this would go better than it looked like things were going to.

"What's wrong?" he asked; the look of concern appearing in his eyes yet again.

You sighed, rolling your eyes as you surrendered.

"The people in there," you nodded to the door behind him, "are complete assholes." you answered, a dry laugh escaping your lips, "And complete leeches. They don't  _actually_  care about any of their foster kids, myself included." You watched as Tony's eyebrows started to raise, but you weren't done yet.

"They have us for the extra cash, and Jerry gets handsy with Malissa." you added, squinting at the memories, "And we can't do anything about it either. They look too perfect for the group homes to believe us. No criminal record, nice jobs, etc." your expression grew darker, "So, we tried taking matters into our own hands." you shrugged, "We stopped him by pulling Malissa away." you sighed, "But he just yelled at us, grounded us, and ' _accidentally'_  locked us in our room sometime after we'd fallen asleep." you rolled your eyes and forced a thin smile onto your lips, "Betcha didn't see that coming." you rolled your eyes again and dropped the forced smile.

"And you said Jerry did that?" Tony asked; as if he were taking notes of some sort.

You just nodded, trying to refrain from rolling your eyes again. "Yep. That's his name."

Tony ignored your tone, making a plan of action in his mind. His plan was to adopt you anyways, he was here to ask you if you'd be okay with that, but now he was thinking about the other kids in this house.

"How many other foster kids are there?" He asked, finally looking back up at you.

"Uh..." you did a quick mental calculation, "Six, not including myself," you answered, doing a quick run through of everyone to make sure you were right. Katie, Chloe, Micheal, Scarllet, Maverik, and Malissa. Yep, that was six.

Tony's eyebrows raised even higher, "How old?" he asked, sounding concerned.

"Ranging from six to about seventeen." you answered, "Most of us are teenagers," you added. What was he planning?

Tony looked up, a pros and cons list starting in his head. So far, the pros of having seven kids were winning, but then he thought of more cons.

You, being the smart teenager you are, quickly read his mind, "Hold up." you grabbed his attention, chuckling slightly as you thought of the possibilities, "You're not  _actually_  thinking of adopting  _seven_  kids, are you?" you chuckled again at the thought, having a hard time believing he could be that responsible.

Tony took a deep breath, "I know, I was thinking of having some of the other Avengers adopt most of you, but I don't know how they'd feel about that..." he sighed, still trying to work everything out in his head.

"You guys don't mind queer people, right?" you asked, going out on a limb and hoping for the best.

Tony gave you an odd look, "Uh, no. Why?" he asked.

You chewed your lip, taking a deep breath and hoping your sibs from other cribs would forgive you, "If you're going to take anyone, I want you to take Malissa. She's..." you didn't want to out her as trans, but you knew she wouldn't mind if it meant ensuring her safety, "the reason she's getting picked on the most is that she's trans. Jerry says girls get treated the way he treats her, so..." you shrugged, "Most of us are queer, but we aren't out yet. Mainly for that exact reason." you explained, "So if you were going to adopt me, don't. I want Malissa to go in my place." you told him firmly.

Tony sighed, taking in the information carefully as he studied you. You had the chance to be free, but you gave it up for someone else. Perfect hero material as far as he could see. He hated the idea of letting the seven of you stay here if you were being oppressed, but he had to talk to the rest of the team before he could go and adopt seven kids.

So, that's what he was going to do.


	2. What Tony Did When He Got Home

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Tony went home and got everyone together... Was he really going to do this? What would Stephen think? And Pepper?  
> Meanwhile, Katie's having trouble with her math homework (because who isn't these days?) due to her sucky teacher.

Tony had left you soon after you'd talked about the whole Jerry and adopting everyone thing.

So, once Tony was gone, after he's left his personal phone number in your phone, you decided to go inside. Your toes were about to freeze off in the cold anyway.

Once inside, you found no one to be inside. It was eerily quiet, and you almost wondered what'd happened to Jerry and Jenet, but you brushed the thought away.  _Perfect,_ you realized, quickly and quietly rushing up the stairs to your room.

Well okay, it wasn't necessarily  _your_  room. It belonged to you and every other foster kid here. You shared a room mainly because you had to, but most of you preferred it anyway. This way, you all knew who was possibly being held captive by Jerry. It was easier to look after each other.

You looked around, smiling when your eyes landed on three vibrantly colored heads of hair. You smiled. The blue hair belonged to Malissa, the orange ironically belonging to Scarllet, and the black belonging to Katie, flowing into a really pretty purple ombre. It almost made you jealous; seeing Katie's hair. It was the coolest you'd ever seen.

Scarllet and Malissa where, from what you could see, helping Katie with her math homework.

"You just add them. See? Two plus two. That equals four." Scarllet shrugged, chuckling at the horrendously confused look on Katie's face. This was hopeless.

You chuckled too, causing everyone else to immediately take conscious notice of your presence.

You smiled, opening your arms as Katie ran over and hopped up, hugging your waist, "Welcome home, Y/n!" she smiled as wide as she could, showing off the new gap in her teeth from losing her first tooth.

"I think I can take her if you want, Scar." you winked, holding back a laugh as Malissa nodded vigorously over her shoulder.

They always found it difficult to explain things to Katie because they underestimated her intelligence. Maverik was the only other person, aside from you, who could explain the math  _just_  right. It didn't really click unless either of you explained it.

You giggle, looking down at Katie as she pulled away, "Hey Kate!" you smiled, "Do you mind if I help you with your math homework?" you had to at least ask Katie before making the change without her. It was one of the room's rules: Consult everyone that has to do with the change or agreement before making it so.

The youngest's smile somehow grew at the question and she nodded, pulling you over to her bunk. "We're doing addition and I  _hate_  it!" she exclaimed, rolling her eyes as she cleared a spot for you on her bed, "Mrs. Lucey is _horrible!_  None of it makes sense when she explains it!" Katie complained, an aggravated sigh escaping her lips as she hopped up onto her bed again.

"I can't wait until our paychecks come in and we get a router booster," Scarllet sighed, "When we have Wi-fi, I'll teach you how to do research on my laptop." she grinned.

Katie gasped, Scarllet was really protective over her laptop. It was her most prized possession, and she was going to let  _Katie_  use it? She couldn't wait!

Scarllet nodded, saying something about Katie needing to be able to get answers for herself if her teacher couldn't provide them properly.

For a six-year-old, Katie was really smart. The only problem was her shitty teacher, whom you've already had to go and see  _four times_  this year about how poorly she's been teaching her students. Everyone's hoping she gets fired before Micheal goes and talks to her. The day he does will probably be the day she dies, whether she's ready for it or not.

So, with a small sigh, you look at Katie's horribly thought out worksheet, leaning over the poorly printed paper as you began to explain how addition worked and when you use it in everyday life.

 _Damn,_  you thought, a yawn escaping your lips as she finished the sixth problem,  _this is gonna be a **long**  night._

Tony got to the tower in no time. Calling a meeting as soon as he was in the elevator, and thinking of who could adopt who, and how he could convince everyone, if anyone, to adopt these kids.

He paused for a moment, thinking about how he hadn't met the other six kids, but he'd surely meet them later, right?  _Yeah, totally_ , he reassured himself.  _Especially if the team thinks about adopting them_.

The elevator beeped, letting him know he was at his stop. He sighed, walking into the now full conference room as if nothing had ever gone wrong in his life, but when he made his way to the front, a small frown tugged at his lips.  _How was he going to do this?_

"Okay, Tony, why'd you call us in here?" Steve asked, a sigh escaping his lips, a yawn following. He'd just gotten back from a mission in Brazil and needed sleep. Not another meeting. The last thing he needed was  _another_  meeting.

Tony turned once he was at the front of the room, taking a deep breath and clearing his throat, "How would you like to adopt a bunch of kids?" he asked, his tone sounded playful, but the look in his eye was quick to explain how serious he was.

" _What?"_ Peter looked mortified.

"Not you. You're too young to adopt kids, Peter. You're young enough to technically  _be_  adopted." Clint reassured him.

Peter nodded, calming down a little, "That– makes more sense."

Bucky looked to Steve for a second, before turning to Tony, "Why would we adopt kids, Tony? How does that sound like a good idea?" Bucky asked, squinting at the iron man as if he'd lost his marbles.

"Well, half of us are in same-sex relationships and the other half can't have kids. I figured you might be interested." Tony shrugged, then cleared his throat again, quietly continuing, "And I found seven kids who need to be adopted." 

" _Seven_?" Bruce exclaimed, his breathing picking up faster than he liked. One kid would've been stressful enough on its own, but  _seven?_ No way.

Thor placed a reassuring hand on the panicking scientist's shoulder, "That sounds most delightful. How old are they?" he asked, looking unphased in the midst of things. Bruce wondered how the fuck he could be so calm at the thought of  _seven kids_.

"Most of them are teenagers. The youngest is six, then there's an eight-year-old, a fourteen-year-old, a fifteen-year-old, a sixteen-year-old, and two seventeen-year-olds, including Y/n, the new recruit we wanted." Tony listed, looking down at the small tablet in his hand. 

Natasha gave him a knowing look, "C'mon Tony, there's more to the story." she frowned, "Why do you really want us to adopt them?"

Tony paused, frowning as well, "Well, their foster parents sound like assholes for one."

Steve's eyebrows furrowed, "So put them in a different foster home."

Tony managed a dry laugh, "That's not how it works, Capsicle." he shrugged, "Most foster homes suck," he sighed, resisting the urge to go and get a drink, "which leads us to the second reason: Y/n wants me to." Tony cleared his throat, "Well, she wants us to adopt this chick named Malissa before we adopt her, but I don't think this Jerry guy sounds good for any of them."

"Why does she want you to adopt this Malissa?" Thor asked.

Tony sighed. They were clearly having a hard time with this.

"Cause  _Jerry_  keeps giving her unwanted attention. You know, feeling her up and stuff." he spat, glaring at nothing in particular.

 _Now_  the Avengers were concerned.

Especially Bucky and Steve, " _What?_ " his eyes went wide.

"From what I've heard, she's trans, so he's trying to teach her what being a girl is 'actually like'." Tony sighed, his hands wringing as he tried to keep calm. He could tell that almost everyone here wanted to go and have a small 'chat' with this Jerry guy.

"And you let Y/n go back?" Steve asked, almost sounding angry, which he probably was. Add worry to the irritation from sleep-depravation and work, and that's Steve right now. Listening to emotions as opposed to listening to reason.

"I can't just take kids from their foster homes, Steve! I'm rich enough to adopt them, but money doesn't let me break  _every_  law," Tony exclaimed, his voice a lot quieter than everyone had anticipated.

Clint spoke up again, sounding a lot calmer than everyone looked, "Can we meet up with them tomorrow by any chance? Kidnap them before school to talk with them?" the last part was only a partial joke.

"Well, I can text Y/n to see if we can meet, but I don't know if I can guarantee meeting tomorrow without breaking any laws." Tony sighed, taking his phone out and looking at your contact information. God, this was going to be a long night.

It took the two of you an hour and a half, but you and Katie had  _finally_  gotten that stupid worksheet done. And as it turns out, you would  _definitely_  have to talk to Ms. Lucey tomorrow. If this happened again, you might even send Micheal to go and talk to her. Out of any one of Katie's 'siblings',  _he'd_  be able to scare her into doing her job correctly. (The only problem would be the possible violence.)

 _Speak of the devil, and he shall come,_ you thought, your smile fading as Micheal walked in, showing off his newly busted lip. You were surprised his snake bites were still in mint condition. Maybe he didn't have them in before the fight? Not probable, but possible.

"Micheal," you got up, forcing a cheery tone and a smile onto your face as you moved closer. 

Micheal smiled back until you got closer and he saw the anger in your eyes.

" _Micheal!"_ you exclaimed angrily, grabbing him by the front of his jacket before he could escape. "What the hell did you get yourself into this time?!" you asked, checking to make sure his lip would be able to heal.  _Without_  stitches this time. Last time he almost had to go to the hospital because the wound was starting to get infected and if that happened? Game over for everyone.

The punk just rolled his eyes, "Jerry's an asshole and he thought a was talking back." he explained, a hand massaging the back of his neck as he spoke, "He sounded drunk, but last time I checked, we were out of Alcohol," he added, a smirk appearing on his lips because  _he'd_  been the one to finish it off. Alcohol was a small thing in the big picture, but like batteries, it was a  _very_  important factor. It generally meant the difference between a good night and Maverik getting a beatdown.

You sighed, letting go of his jacket and pushing him back a little.

Micheal, as always, was quick to retaliate, "You wanna go?" he asked angrily. So defensive...

You glared at him, your (E/c) eyes daring him to try something, "With my training and experience, you'd be down in a matter of seconds." you reminded him matter-of-factly, "So don't even start." you snapped.

Micheal just rolled his eyes again, saying nothing as you looked to everyone else that had arrived since Tony had left. So far, the only person missing was Maverik, who should be getting home from work soon.

You sighed, turning around and walking over to the door, almost hesitating before locking it. If Jerry was drinking again, keeping the door locked wasn't much of an option. Maverik could knock when he got home.

"Does that mean we aren't having dinner?" a soft voice piped up. 

You turned, meeting a pair of captivating blue eyes across the room. Chloe looked up at you, almost pouting.

"You're hungry?" You asked, surprise filling your voice. Chloe always chose not to eat here, so everyone was always surprised when she decided to.

Chloe shook her head, her light blonde hair shifting over her shoulders as she did, "No, but I was going to eat something." she sighed, "My stomach feels funny, so I figured I was hungry." she added quietly.

Malissa looked to Scarllet for a moment before she went to check her temperature, bringing Chloe's forehead to her cheek.

After a moment, she turned to everyone else with a grim look on her face.

"She's got a temp."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay! Part two! Editing was interesting, and writing Steve and Bucky is fun, but I have a question for Y'all. Does Thor and Bruce’s interaction make them seem like a couple? Looking back, I think the subtext makes their relationship seem romantic, but oh well. Have fun reading, and I hope you enjoyed! :)


	3. The Hospital

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> With Chloe sick... things become more complex... and (fun fact) complexity adds problems.

Tony had gotten a reply as soon as he sent a text asking about when it'd be okay to meet you and the other foster kids.

 _You can meet us at the hospital tonight. Chloe has a temp. and she started throwing up._ You had texted.

Tony looked up, concern finding its way into his features, "We've gotta go." he swallowed, "Fri, give me eyes on Y/n L/n."

"Tony, what happened?" Rhodey walked over to his friend's side, placing a comforting hand on Tony's shoulder.

The rest of the Avengers, however, had already left, they were on their way to get dressed for the streets. (I mean, it's not like they can just go around in their uniforms, gear, and pajamas. Then people would get worried, right?)

Stephen wasn't at the tower when Tony had called for the meeting, so he was a little confused when he saw everyone rushing around, getting comfortable clothes on and grabbing things like cash (which, they didn't really need thanks to Tony, but they weren't really thinking about that), keys, and shoes.

When Tony briskly walked into the room with a concerned Rhodey at his side, Stephen looked up and their eyes met.

Tony immediately saw the confusion in Stephen's eyes and was quick to explain, "I think we're adopting kids, and one of them's in the hospital. Wanna come with? Sick kids are kinda your thing, right?" a small, teasing smile appeared on his lips, despite all the concern which seemed to be slowly clouding his judgment. 

Stephen rolled his eyes, but nodded, throwing his coat on again and asking for the address.

"Uh..." Tony flipped his phone over, showing him a picture of a hospital downtown, ironically, it was the hospital Stephen used to work at.

"Oh, well that's easy enough. I can get all of you there right now." he shrugged, frowning at the rest of the team as he looked at them running about.

Stephen sighed, shook his head, took his jacket off, (not like he was gonna need it now) and opened a medium sized portal.

Upon seeing the portal, the Avengers started going through, it wasn't as rushed now because they weren't in a huge hurry to get there anymore.

Everyone was so lucky you lived near a hospital. Otherwise, this would've been a  _lot_  harder.

Everyone aside from Maverik piled into the hospital. Micheal was carrying Chloe while you texted with Stark and Malissa was telling a nurse about Chloe's state.

Maverik would've been carrying Chloe, but he wasn't at the hospital yet. He said he'd text you when he got there though, so at least there was hope for that.

Somehow, Tony was already here and looking for you.

You took a deep breath, trying to keep everything from spinning and trying to keep yourself under control; but It was hard with everyone talking,  _thinking_  so loudly. You could feel your powers unconsciously activating, as they usually did when you were under extreme stress.

Another breath.

 _Keep_   _breathing, Y/n._

Your mind started thinking of other times, the smells of the hospital reminding you of HYDRA, of S.H.E.I.L.D.

 _Breathe_.

You took a deep breath, opening your eyes to find a glowing hand on your shoulder. A closer look told you that the person's hand belonged to non-other than the  _Doctor Stephen Vincent Strange himself._

"Are you okay? You have an interesting–" he began.

You didn't stay to listen as you realized Chloe wasn't in your field of vision, your eyes open wide as you searched for Chloe and Micheal.  _Where the fuck did they run off to?!_ You took off, briskly walking through the waiting room as you kept looking for them. They had to be somewhere, right?  _They have to be nearby._

Your breathing picked up as you started to panic.

"Y/n?" you heard a familiar voice behind you.

You turned, spotting Maverik in all his glory.

He'd just gotten done with work, so he didn't have his binder on, but you barely noticed as you jumped into his arms, inhaling his cologne and smiling. "I am  _so_  glad to see you." you breathed, letting go and ruffling his dark hair.

He cocked an eyebrow and smiled, "Me too, sis, but it hasn't been that long." after a moment, he rolled his eyes and decided you were past the point of caring.

"Where's Chloe?" He finally asked, quickly searching through the nearby people, "And– are those the Avengers?" he squinted.

You paled, just now remembering that you'd been texting with Tony Stark.  _Is that why Doctor Strange was here?_

You turned, and of course, there they were: The Avengers.

After a moment, your eyes met Tony's, and they all started walking towards you.

"Uh... Y/n?" Maverik asked, glancing down at you with worried eyes.

"I told you I'd be on the Avengers's radar eventually. Stark stopped by today." a small smile found it's way onto your lips as you fully turned to your brother, "Rik, I think they're gonna adopt us." 

Maverik's eyes went wide, and he looked like he was about to say something, but he got cut off by Tony.

"Hey Y/n! Long time no see!" He grinned, but you saw right through it.

"I see you brought everyone." you nodded to the Avengers standing behind him.

Tony nodded, "I think it's safe to say you don't need me to introduce you?"

You nodded, then noticed a tug on your leg. Looking down with wide eyes, you saw Katie. She'd been clinging to you this  _entire time_.

But of course, you had to make sure it was her, "Katie?" you asked.

The little girl nodded.

"You've been there this entire time?" you asked.

Katie shook her head, "I was with Scar, but she told me to stay with you and hold on tight." she emphasized by gripping your pantleg tighter, but then turned to the group in front of her.

"Are they the  _real_  Avengers?" she asked, her eyes filled with wonder as she gazed up at the tall figures in front of her. (Well, sort of tall. Tony's pretty short.)

You chuckled but nodded, "Yeah Kate, they are." you glanced up at the team, sighing after a moment of thinking. "You'll get to meet them," you bent down a little so she could hear you better, "but we have to find the rest of our party." you bit your lip, hoping she'd accept that.

Thankfully, Katie understood, nodding before pointing to two big doors. "They took her over that way." she shrugged.

You nodded and took a breath, a hand landing on your shoulder. You turned to see Maverik, who also motioned for you to breathe.

"Instead of freaking out, why don't we ask the desk, hm? I think that'd take a lot less time," he suggested. You didn't know how he could stay this calm all the time.

"Or we could ask Ironman! He's got such crazy cool tech! I bet  _he_  could find her!" Katie exclaimed, pulling on your pant leg and pointing up at Tony.

You chuckled and looked up to see a smug look on Tony's face.

"You know where she is, don't you?" you deadpanned, your smile disappearing.

Tony didn't take it personally, "Even better. We know the gal helping your foster sister out."

When Christine was  _once again_  met with Stephen, she didn't expect him to ask her to take care of a sick kid. Yet there she was, doing just that.

He pointed her in the direction, then sent her off,  _again._

She was indifferent at first, that is until she actually  _met_  the kid.

She was small, blonde hair with bangs that covered her left eye and blue eyes that looked like they were dying. She looked so...  _weak._

The guy carrying her looked the exact opposite of friendly, but that didn't stop Christine from trying to take Chloe from him. Haha– bad choice.

Thankfully, a nice looking teen stepped between the two of them, introducing herself as Malissa and quickly explaining what was happening and why they'd brought her in.

She'd have to look into it, but from the looks of everything, it looked like a bad case of the stomach flu. So, she took Chloe in, filling out an information chart as they went along to the room.

As soon as Tony got the room number they were off, Dr. Strange opening a portal thing that everyone walked through. (And this did leave people giving them weird stares, but the only person who was really affected by it was Maverik.)

The room looked like one you figured you'd generally find in a clinic. You hadn't really been in a lot of health care places, so you didn't actually know, but oh well. The room was nicer than what you'd gotten before.

Then you saw Chloe, poor poor Chloe.

Then you saw the nurse, looking in Choe's mouth. Bad move.

"She's gonna vomit– I'd move." You warned her, just in time too. 

Chloe didn't even try to move so she could vomit in the trash. She just sat there, laying in her own puke.

Bucky's heart broke at the sight. She looked so... miserable.

You turned, looking at Katie for a moment before she looked up at you, realizing what being in the room meant.

"Can I?" Katie asked, more excited than probably anyone in the hospital.

You nodded, "I said you could when we got to the Chloe, didn't I?"

When Katie ran off, the first person she grabbed onto was Thor.  _Wow,_ you thought,  _good taste_.

The God was shocked at first, but he smiled when he looked down to see the small child hugging his leg. Well, she was hugging onto his leg and sitting on top of his foot, but he didn't really care.

Thor knelt down, careful not to hover directly over his new friend. "And who might you be?" he asked, trying his best not to be loud. Thankfully, he'd been with children before, so this wasn't too hard.

The child blushed, looking to Y/n, who smiled and nodded.

"My name's Katelyn, but everyone calls me Katie, so you can too." she smiled.

Thor smiled, "Really?" he leaned a little closer, like he was about to tell her a secret, "You know," he whispered, "I've heard that Katelyn is the name of a fine ruler." he then leaned back, giving Katie a strange look, "Have you ever lived in a palace?" he asked.

Katie just burst into a fit of giggles, shaking her head as she covered her mouth with her hands.

"Well, I definitely think you should. Palaces  _are_  the proper place for a ruler to live, after all." Thor nodded, and just like that, the two became best friends.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay… not exactly how I was expecting this to turn out, but I don’t actually mind it. The next chapter ended up getting deleted though, which was really frustrating.


	4. Just-- Fucking Micheal

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Why must Micheal cause so many problems? Will we ever find out? Maybe. Maybe not.

Once Chloe was asleep, the nurse spoke up.

"It's an abnormally bad case of the stomach flu." she'd said, "You'll probably want to keep her here until her potassium and everything gets back into order." then, she looked to Malissa, who had no doubt told answered all the nurse's questions while you were absent. "Has she been throwing up all day?" she finally asked.

"We haven't been with her all day." You answered, drawing the nurse's attention from Malissa, "We go to different schools, and she has club activities until Micheal or Scarlet can walk her home at four-thirty." 

Christine gave you an odd look, but she didn't say anything. She didn't need to start a fight, after all.

"What school does she go to?" a younger-than-thirty voice asked.

"Peter Parker. The spider-man." Micheal deadpanned, "Shouldn't you be at home, with your family?" the malice in his tone was hidden, but everyone could hear it. The teen turned to glare at the superheroes. 

"Why are any of you even here, anyway? Since when do you  _actually_  care about what happens to the people and not the population, huh?" he glared at Stephen, who didn't show any emotion as he got scolded by the teenager.

"Okay, Micha, that's enough," Malissa spoke up, reaching for his hand, "We don't need to start a fight with the Avengers too."

Micheal angrily pulled his hand away, licking his busted lip as he sneered, "Yeah, sure. Like a punch would actually hurt any of them." he spat, "Thor's practically Luke mother-fucking Cage."

"Who?" Rhodey asked.

"Yeah, Luke Cage. He does half of your job for you. In Harlem." Micheal glared at the War Machine now, "And he's more of a hero than you are if you ask me."

"Yeah, well he didn't." You snapped, swiftly walking up and getting between him and the team of superheroes, "So drop it, Micheal." you practically growled.

The younger teen's gaze shifted from them to the Avengers, slowly forming a puzzle and putting together in his mind.

"They're here for you, aren't they?" he asked, anger seeping into his voice, "They're here to sign you up for their team, adopt you, and forget us, aren't they?" he asked, getting louder, "Aren't they?!" he demanded, his hands balling into fists as he practically yelled.

"Micheal. You're going to wake Chloe up." Scarllet snapped.

The delinquent turned, glaring at her too, "Oh, I'm sorry, what did you say? I couldn't hear you over how much of an anxious mess you are." he scowled, squinting at her, daring her to fight back.

But of course, as always, she never did. Instead, she chose to shrink into herself ever so slightly as she turned her focus back to Chloe.

"Micheal. Ross." You snapped, "that's enough." you told him, your voice stern and honestly reminding Tony of a mother.

"Yeah, right. Whatever you need to say to make yourself feel better." Micheal rolled his eyes, "Besides, what's betraying another family to you, anyway? I'm sure you could kill all of us without hesitation, right–" 

One word others could use to describe you: Merciless.

You grabbed Micheal by the hair, bringing his face close to your own, "Watch. Your. Words." You spat. You pulled back on Micheal's hair and let go, sending him flying to the floor.

"I don't blame your situation on you, okay? The least you can do is give me more credit for the fact that I try to help you, despite how royally fucked you are." You sighed, suddenly feeling extremely tired.

Did this happen every day? No.

Did it feel like it did? Yes, very much so.

You started a string of curses under your breath as you saw a small bit of blood on your hands. You'd pushed it too far.

"Y/n?" Katie spoke up, her eyes wide with fear, "Did you just kill Micheal?"

It was an innocent question. Katie was actually concerned about her foster brother, but the question hurt. Is that was she thought of you? A merciless killer? Merciless enough to kill your own brother?

Your features softened as she took a step closer to Katie, who was now being held safely in Thor's arms.

Thor took a step back, and you froze.  _He thought you were dangerous._

You took a deep breath, trying your best not to cry or let your voice break, "No, sweetie I would  _never–"_ your voice broke and she covered her mouth with the back of her closed fist.  _I Wish I'd left my parents when they told me to._

When an arm landed harshly on your shoulder, you immediately knew what the person was trying to do.

You turned around to see a surprised Captain America. "As much as I wish it would," you whispered, "That doesn't work. None of it does."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, this is a pretty short chapter, and I’m sorry, but I needed to write it and I figured it was nice to end in a semi-suspenseful place. Also, the reader is Genderfluid so the pronouns in the story’s narration will change along with Y/n’s gender. :)


	5. Boi, everything's illegal these days

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> **The reader uses she/her pronouns during this chapter.

Mr. America was confused.

I mean, a lot of things confused him, but this was topping right now.

You didn't fall. Hell, you didn't even flinch. 

You stretched your neck. Once to the left, and once to the right, wincing as you listened to it crack. "You've got a strong hit. I'm glad they gave you the serum first." you smiled.

"First?" Bruce gave you a weird look, which then caused the rest of the superheroes in the room to follow.

Scarllet accidentally laughed, snorting as she was quickly shut up by Malissa because  _this is how we get in trouble, Scarllet_.

"What's so funny about that?" Tony asked, giving the group of teenagers a suspicious look.

"Did you really think they wouldn't try and recreate the super soldier serum?" Scarlet chuckled again, "Howard tried to recreate it right off the bat! And how do you think James is still alive?" Scarllet probably would've noticed the silent anger in Steve's glare, but she was too busy trying not to laugh to even care. "Hell, he's probably not the only one, either!" her chuckling died down as she slowly realized how full of solemn and silent anger the room had become.

"What do you mean 'others'?" Rhodey asked, taking a step closer.

"How did you know about that?" Tony asked, gaining the room's attention as he walked up to Scarllet, who was half-heartedly being guarded by Malissa.

The teen refused to answer, her anxiety quickly blowing through the roof. She wasn't going to have a panic attack, but it sure as hell felt like she was.

"S.H.E.I.L.D and HYDRA released all of their files, Mr. Stark. Scarllet reads all of it in her spare time. Sue her." Malissa snapped.

"No no, how'd you know about the other super soldiers?" Bucky spoke up, also getting up to step closer to the nerdy teen.

"I– uh–" Scarllet cleared her throat, trying to gain control over her stammering as she tried again, "I.." she cleared her throat once more, shifting in her seat uncomfortably as she looked to the floor, "I hacked some files and decrypted them..." she finally admitted.

She was quiet, and quite frankly if the room hadn't already been vacant of speech, no one would've been able to have heard her speak in the first place.

Steve just frowned harder, "You know that's illegal, right?"

You had to laugh at that, which thankfully diverted all the attention from Scarllet.

"You know that's stupid, right?" You chuckled again, "She's not hurting anyone, she's not selling the info to awful people, and she's not hurting herself. Captain Rodgers, she's fine." you said sternly.

"But she is selling the information?" and although Clint asked, it sounded more like a statement.

"Not the info on the location of the other super soldiers. Nobody cares about them anymore." You chuckled again, "Besides," you shrugged, "all the others are dead."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh my goodness this is so fucking short!! I am super sorry! I’m in school once again and my schedule is getting kinda full, but I’m gonna try to update more often. (Although I will say that that might mean shorter chapters, I promise they won’t be shorter than this though.)


	6. HYDRA Produced More Than One Super Soldier, Silly

Bucky wasn't sure if he was confused, or if her flat out didn't believe you. So, he asked.

"What do you mean 'they're all dead'?" he scoffed, "You can't just kill super soldiers!"

You turned to look at the former HYDRA agent, smirking as you gave him a dismissive wave of your hand, "Sure you can! You just need a better super soldier to do it." You shrugged.

It's not like you were trying to get everyone all riled up, but you  _did_  kinda have a lot going on at the moment. With Chloe being in the hospital, Micheal acting up with his busted lip, and this whole adoption thing... your brain just kinda went into autopilot mode.

"You're not–" Clint paused, giving her an odd look, "Are you?" he asked.

_You're not like the Winter Soldier, are you?_

You took a deep breath, but you couldn't help but glare at the...  _team_  in front of you, "I'm sure you're all smart enough to-ve looked into my background. You all know who I am." you deadpanned

"Do we? All I know for sure is that  _you're_  a listed HYDRA assassin." Rhodes snapped.

"Yeah, and War Machine, also known as you, Sargent Rhodes, almost killed the president. I like to think titles don't matter that much." Micheal snapped bitterly, sat up, and glared at the war 'hero'.

"Oh yeah? Okay, if that's how you wanna play it." Rhodey snapped, "How many innocent people have been killed because of her?"

"Over eighty." You shrugged, "Then again, no one's innocent. So, zero."

"Yeah right," Bucky snapped, "Y/n L/n? Over one-hundred-fifty kills before going dark in her 8th year. Everyone remembers you." he glared, "Everyone learned to fear you the hard way."

"While that may be true, that doesn't change the fact that what I said is true. I don't kill innocent people. Every person I killed was bad in one aspect or another." You shrugged.

"You killed kids, Y/n!" Bucky scolded, fists clenching at his sides.

"If you wanna go with logic like that, then you've killed more kids than I have." You glared, "But we both know that  _you_  didn't kill them. James wouldn't. HYDRA brainwashed both of us, W.S. not just you." you snapped, "Now lower your voice, or you're going to wake Chloe up."

"Oh, so you're actually concerned about  _Chloe_ now?" Micheal gawked.

You knew he was just trying to get under your skin, but you weren't having it. However, when you went to speak, someone beat you to it.

"Could you cut that out? She's clearly having a hard enough time, and she doesn't need you shitting on her."

They spoke with a heavy accent. Sokovian, from what you could hear. After quickly going through all the members of the Avengers, you narrowed it down to the Maximoff twins.

"Pietro or Wanda?" You asked, choosing not to turn and look at either.

"Wanda." They answered.

"Well,  _Wanda_ ," You turned to face the former HYDRA agent, "as much as I love you trying to defend me, I don't mind him too much. Micheal's been having an off day, especially since he apparently got into a fight. So, I'd rather take the verbal abuse than have him lash out on someone else again." you sighed, somehow looking ages older within a few minutes. 

_We really need to get Micheal in to see a therapist..._

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had a hard time with editing and being able to focus, but I got it! 😄 I hope you have a wonderful day!


	7. Can The Avengers Get Arrested?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You realize... You left without... telling Jerry...  
> You're going to die in this hospital, aren't you?

You were actually beginning to envy Chloe as the night passed, because, due to the fact that she was asleep, Chloe didn't have to put up with the thick layers of tension in the room.

Bucky was staring at you with a glare that could kill a giant Hulk, Stephen looked tired and mildly miffed, Tony was deep in thought, and Mr. America was deeply confused. In fact, he was the only one who seemed to be okay with their current situation. 

Well, aside from Thor, who'd been playing with Katie. She was currently hanging off of the God's arm, giggling like a mad woman.

You didn't focus on that though. You couldn't. Especially since all of your attention was on your biggest problem: how were you going to explain sneaking everyone out to the police? Because you know your  "parents" had called them by now. 

Katie hadn't done the dishes, and you knew Jerry had noticed and gone upstairs to yell at her by now.

A small sigh left your lips. When Micheal ran off, it was easy to cover for him, but everyone? At the same time?

You looked over to Rhodey, your eyebrows furrowed as you thought for a moment.

The Sargent was quick to notice, rolling his eyes as he glared at you. "Can I help you with something?" He asked sarcastically, clearly just pissed about their previous conversation.

"Can the Avengers get arrested for normal things? Like... murder? Or too many speeding tickets?" You asked, no sign of sarcasm or humor. You were dead serious. 

Rhodey gave her an odd look but answered anyway, "Yes. We're as obligated to the law as you are."

"Murder and parking tickets? How are those even remotely the same?" Doctor Banner gave you a 'wtf' look as he shook his head.

"They're both illegal?" Clint offered.

"She said speeding tickets, hotshot." Stephen snapped.

"Six more PhDs than you, Strange." Clint teased.

"One more Md than him, Barton." Stephen shot back.

"Why do you ask?" Peter spoke up nervously.

("A better beard than you, Strange.")

"Well, the longer you stay here, the more Jerry, our foster parent, can make it look like you kidnapped us. I have a valid excuse for being here, you guys don't." You explained with a shrug.

("Better looking hair, Barton.")

"Wait, Mr. Stark, should we be worried about that?" Peter looked over to the infamous Ironman, who was still too lost in his thoughts to-ve heard anything anyone was saying.

However, Stephen and Clint had abruptly ended their squabble after hearing Peter.

Everyone who'd heard looked at each other, silently trying to find their answer.

Then, as they all magically come to a conclusion at the same time, they answered.

Unfortunately, the room was split. Half said yes, half said no.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oh. My. Gods did this take forever. It wasn’t even like, writing it. It was just getting to the point where I could write it! Oof. I know, this isn’t that much. But! I’m already starting on the next Chapter and everything! :D SO just hang in there. (Also, I hope everyone’s had a good day so far.)


	8. Thor is A Giant, Ferocious Teddy Bear

"Well personally, I think you should be at least a little worried." You shrugged, "And that's just due to the fact that our foster parents like sucking people dry of their money." you frowned ever so slightly, trying to ignore the anger slowly developing in your chest. 

Oh, and if Jerry and Jenet ruined this for everyone? There would be hell to pay, you would make sure of that.

"Wait, are they coming here?" Katie froze, fear in her eyes as she looked to you for an answer.

Malissa was quick to jump up, "No, honey, but they might try to find us while we're gone. Did you do the dishes when you got home?" The only reason they ever really bothered them was for dinner (when they had company, otherwise they didn't bother), or unfinished chores.

Katie's hands flew to her mouth as she realized her mistake "Oh my God!" She cried, sniffing, "They're gonna kill me aren't they?!" tears were already falling before anyone even had a chance to fully understand what she'd said.

Thor, however, was quick to understand and help. He lifted the small child up in his arms and cradled her for a moment, before pulling her back enough so she could see him. 

"Hey, Katie, can you look at me for a moment?" his voice was soft, comforting, as he quietly spoke.

Katie sniffed, listening as she let her eyes focus on Thor's. He had her full attention.

"I swear, upon my mighty hammer and my father, Odin, that I shall not let either of your parents lay a singer finger upon you." He told her, his voice both serious and comforting, "And if they do, I will know, and they will face the mighty wrath of a God. " He gave her a serious look. He meant this. "Okay? I swear upon the all-father. No one shall harm you without severe consequence." 

Katie nodded, "Sir Thor, " she sniffed, "You don't have to do that for me. I deserve it. I'm a bad kid." she hiccupped, her tears falling faster, "I'm sorry." 

Micheal glared at the back of Katie's head for a few seconds in silence, almost expecting himself to hit something. Instead, he surprised everyone, including himself.

"Katie," he spoke up, his voice soft and almost playful, "can you tell me who helped me decide what colored earring I should wear today?" he asked, a small smile coming to his lips as she answered.

"I did..." she sniffed and hiccupped, sniffing again.   
Micheal took a few steps closer, kneeling down so Katie could look down at him, "And who made everyone lunches, even though she didn't have to?" he asked.

"Me..." Katie's eyebrows furrowed, what was he up to?

"And who in the world paints Malissa's nails when Chloe and Scarllet are busy?" Micheal asked, smiling wider as Katie giggled.

"I do." Katie's tears began to slow.

"And what amazing little girl goes with Maverik to go grocery shopping? And not because she has to, but just because she likes to help?" Micheal asked.

"I do!" Katie smiled, chuckling as she watched Micheal stand up again.   
"You, smol child, are a wonderful little girl. You just forget things sometimes, just like everyone. Just like Ironman, like the Hulk, hell– even black widow forgets stuff!" he exclaimed.

Katie violently shook her head, "No way! Black Widow doesn't forget things! She's a super spy!" she exclaimed.

Micheal nodded, "Oh yes she does! You know why? Because she has a brain. Brains forget things, so people forget things. " he told her. 

Then, he gave her a very serious look, one that usually meant he was going to do something serious, anyways. 

"Jerry and Jenet are bad people, Katie. They like punishing people and watching them suffer. You don't deserve that. You don't deserve the shit they give you, and they don't have a right to your respect. They aren't good people, Katie, and that's what you have to keep in mind. Y/n, Malissa, Maverik, even Scarllet, and I will all fight until we can't before we just let them hurt you. Okay?"

Katie nodded, "Okay." 

Micheal nodded, "Now, I need you to make me a promise. Can you do that?" he whispered.  
Katie nodded again.

"I need you to promise me that you'll be brave. Even when it's hard." Micheal whispered, "Because we will have to go back eventually, and things may get a little.... interesting, and I need you to stay strong for all of us. Can you do that?" he asked, hoping for the best. 

Of course, she could, but whether or not she could while under the amount of pressure that would end up upon her shoulders... well, that was a different question. 

Katie nodded again, "I promise." she told him, matching his facial expression. The deal was practically sealed in blood.

Micheal's usual semi-angry facial expression returned, and took a step back, ignoring all of the eyes that had latched themselves into his figure as he went and sat by Scarllet.

"That was..." Sallet trailed off, unable to find words due to her shock.

"Good." Malissa nodded, "You did good, Micheal." 

You nodded as well, but you forced yourself to look past it. There were more pressing matters at hand that needed to be discussed. 

"Thor, I'd appreciate it if you and Katie went and talked just outside the room." You faked a natural-looking smile, "Tell her about Asgard and the nine realms, she'll love it." you added. 

Thor nodded, taking the little princess and swiftly leaving, her giggling along the way.

You turned to everyone else, "Sorry," she cleared her throat, "but I didn't want her to worry, especially since she's already worried enough." You explained.

"What do you have to worry about?" Steve asked, squinting ever so slightly.

"This whole adoption thing, obviously," Tony spoke up, standing and walking towards the door. He turned, glad that he'd not gained everyone's attention, "I think Thor's already willing to adopt Katie-- however that'll work out. Scarllet, from what I've seen, would probably do great with Bruce, Malissa with Wilson, Y/n with me, Maverik and Micheal with Stephen. I think we can get this started by next week." Tony shook his head, "No, I think we need to." 

"What? Adopt them? Wait– this is why we're here?" Stephen gave Tony a weird look, "I was gone for, what,  _ten_  minutes?"

"Stephen, I know this is short notice, but hear me out on this one, okay?–" Tony started, but Stephen wasn't quite having it.

"Tony, I went out to get milk, fruit loops, and Oreos, and within that short amount of time, you had a team meeting where you decided to go from adopting one kid to  _seven_?!" 

Tony sighed, his hands quickly coming up to rub his face. Of course, Stephen was upset. This was a big thing. It was illogical, improbable, abrupt, borderline impulsive. Most things Stephen wasn't too big on. But what was he supposed to do? Leave them?

Another heavy sigh escaped his lips and he quickly decided:

He was royally screwed now. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I just like?? Writing Thor with little kids? Also, I hope this chapter is good! I’m actually surprised by the fact that I got it all done as quickly as I did! Uhhhmmm, yeah, I think that’s it for commentary though! I hope you guys like it! :D


	9. All the Dogs Went to Heaven, and Everything Here Went to Shit

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is... really fast-paced and freaky... but it'll probably make sense later... :)

Tony turned to Stephen, "I don't want to make this decision without you, Stephen." then a sigh, "But they don't have long, so if we're going to make a decision, we have to go, lickity-split." his usually playful tone returned. 

Stephen nodded towards the hallway, "Let's talk then. You and me. In the hallway, right now." 

This sounded very sexual from literally everyone else's perspective, but nobody really cared anymore. They were always all over each other, no matter how much Stephen wanted to "keep a "suitable" reputation". Pepper thought it was adorable and hilarious.

As soon as they were gone, however, you looked to the remaining Avengers.

"So, was Mr. Stark right?" you asked, "About who you wanted to adopt?" 

The group shared uncomfortable stares. Did they actually want to have seven kids running around while they were working? Would they actually be able to care for everyone?

"We get it if you don't want to adopt us." Scarllet spoke up, "We can make it on our own. We were just hoping–" Her eyebrows raised as Malissa shot her a warning glance, "Ha," she nervously chuckled, "Nevermind, it's pointless." she smiled bashfully, shrinking into herself. Everyone noticed the blush spreading across her pale cheeks. 

Now everyone felt guilty. Maybe they should. It would be morally right after all... They should.

It was decided. They're going to adopt them.

Unfortunately, fate had yet to be so kind. 

The door burst open and cops entered, guns ready to fire if necessary.

"Put your hands in the air!!" One of them shouted.

"Down on your knees! Now!" Another roared.

 _Where and why the fuck?!_ You wondered,  _Like, where the fuck did they come from? Who called them?_  An eye roll and a sigh happened as you realized,  _Fucking foster parents._   _ **Must**  they ruin everything?_

Everyone obeyed their instructions, getting down on their knees and putting their hands on top of their head and such.

Well, except you. (You just don't listen, huh?)

Steve went to tell her to get down, but as soon as he opened his mouth, the barrel of a gun was against the back of his head.

"You have the right to remain silent. If you do say anything, it can be used against you in a court of law. You have the right to have a lawyer present during any questioning. If you cannot afford a lawyer, one will be appointed for you if you so desire." The 'leading' police officer exclaimed over all the outside chatter.

"Excuse me," You spoke up. You too were surprised by the fact that you had yet to be pinned down. Everyone else had been, after all. "but what the  _fuck_  are you doing? These guys have done nothing illegal. What were they charged with?" You were completely calm, which honestly freaked Steve out a little, but he kept quiet.

"Kidnapping you and your foster siblings." The officer answered. 

You squinted at him as if you were looking through him and dissecting his soul.

"They didn't kidnap us, they met us here. My Chloe here is sick and Mr. Stark wanted to help pay for her medical bill because he knows that our foster parents will be unable to." you explained, your voice sounding unusually soft, "In fact, she's still sick." You stepped closer, your legs moving seductively as you lightly bit your lip,

"So could you please go? I'm sure there are plenty of people who need you guys much more than we do... hm?" you looked him up and down, your voice so soft, Peter's eyelids were starting to feel heavier. 

The police officer slowly nodded, slowly moving the gun from the back of Steve's head, "Of course, ma'am." he nodded, then going into action.

Everyone was gone within a matter of minutes. 

"Okay, first of all, how in the fuck?" Sam spoke up.

"Have you always been able to do that?" Steve asked, growing slightly concerned. 

You chuckled, "Nah, it's both a skill and a power. My eyes change to a more alluring shade of purple that people somehow never notice, then I change my voice so it's softer and goes with the really high pitched frequency that I transmit. All of it together kind of..." you waved your hands, trying to find the right words, "hypnotizes people." You shrugged.

"Speaking of," you looked over to Peter, who was still trying to fight off the hypnotic sound of your voice, "You're free now," you smirked and snapped your fingers.

Rhodey looked between you and Peter, his eyebrows furrowing as his anger grew. "Did you just–?" he pointed to Peter, "Did you just hypnotize him?!" he shouted in question.

You didn't flinch. Instead, you just sighed. 

"Weak minds are easily taken. I didn't let him do anything, relax." you snapped. 

"Wait– what happened?" Peter asked, looking towards Natasha, who just shook her head.

"You're fine Peter, Rhodey's just upset because he doesn't like Y/n's attitude." she replied, "You're not hurt."

You refrained from rolling your eyes. So these were the Avengers...  
Well, most of the Avengers. 

"So... where's Scott Lang? I haven't met him yet, and I've heard he's good with kids." You asked, scanning the room as she went.

You'd lied though. You and Scott had actually met, but that was so long ago you were sure Scott wouldn't remember you.

"Here!" a middle-aged man called, gladly raising his hand. He honestly hadn't expected anyone to remember his existence. 

You smiled, then nodded towards the hallway, "Good. Let's Talk."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oof oof oof. I feel like it’s been forever! So, sorry that this took as long as it did. I’ve been pretty busy, but I tried working on this every chance I got. Also, Scott with kids? What would you guys think? Cause I think it’s adorable! Also, sorry if everything’s super far apart, but I figured if I was having a hard time reading it (because there isn’t a good way of indenting that I know of) most other people would, so… Uhhhmmm, yeah, I think that’s it for commentary though! I hope you guys like it! :D


	10. No Place Like Home

You grumble awake, grabbing your phone and turning your alarm off as you blink the tired feeling from your eyes.

You usually remembered things when you slept. That was your form of "dreaming", but they were usually about.. death– if you were honest with yourself. So, why were you dreaming about how you got here?

You decide to ignore it as you got up, walking down the hall to take a shower, as you usually do.

"Up so soon?" a voice called from behind you. You didn't even have to look at Sam to know he was jokingly smiling at you.

This was normal, of course. Sam had to get up this early to go running with Steve and Bucky (which was absolutely hilarious to watch, by the way), but the encounter made you smile none the less.

You just shrugged, "I've gotta shower and start making breakfast before my kiddos wake up." you replied, your own smile increasing as you thought about Kate's 'pancake pirouette'. She was gonna freak when she saw her pancakes in the shapes of dinosaurs this morning.

Oh! And Chole was gonna lover her 'pan-cat'!

Sam chuckled, "Alright then," you turned in time to see him shrug, "But please get some more sleep. Two- o'clock is  _not_  the appropriate bedtime on a school night." he winked at you, and you couldn't help but chuckle.  _If only he knew that Malissa sneaks out half of the time_ , you thought.

But you weren't going to tattle, that was your guys' secret.

And you took that as your que to leave and take a shower, which was amazingly warm and awesome at first. Unfortunately, as you ran your fingers through your soapy hair, you began to think about your "dream".

Why  _did_  you get adopted? Why would Tony Stark, and the all-powerful Avengers, take interest in the likes of you and Katie?

What were they  _using_  you for?

Along with a new feeling in your chest, these thoughts came with realizations. You realized smaller things that you hadn't before. Like the way you were being trained, and the way Nat was starting to teach the girls how to fight...   
But isn't that normal? Your subconscious countered, trying to defend your new family–

No, you didn't  _have_  a family. Not anymore. They're dead, remember?

There was a knock on the door. Your hair was free of soap, and your fingers now resembled soggy prunes.

How long have you been in here for...?

"Y/n? Y/n, are you okay?" It was... your mind blanked, unable to focus on anything.

"Y/n?"  _Wanda_! Her name is Wanda.

Wait, how the fuck did you forget Wanda?

"I'm fine." you quickly blurted, your mind somehow catching up with your situation. You'd zoned out again. Huh...

Moments pass, and you finally decide to get out of the shower. It was about time anyway.

So, you did. You got out of the shower and asked FRIDAY what time it was. Apparently, you were in the shower for an hour. No wonder Wanda was concerned...

In fact, she was waiting outside the bathroom for you, which you actually found to be quite surprising.

"Sorry for taking so long! Did you need something?" You asked, opening the bathroom door to allow yourself some cooler air. You could hardly breathe with how hot it was in the bathroom.

Wanda looked up, looking a little surprised like she didn't actually expect you to come and talk to her. "Uh, no, I'm alright. I just wanted to make sure you were okay in there. Your showers are usually ten minutes at most." she answered. And with that, you realized her accent had toned itself way down since the two of you had first met.

"Well, that's very observant of you," you replied with a smirk. That was borderline creepy attention to detail, in your opinion.

Then again, you knew everyone's schedules like the back of your hand, including Wanda's. Maybe it wasn't as creepy as you thought...

"Is everybody up and ready to go?" You finally asked, turning to look for your clothes from the door. No sign of them. Did somebody take them? Or were you just that out of it today?

Today is too full of questions, you decided.

"Yep. Natasha and Clint woke them up and Peter made them all breakfast. He even made the pancakes spider-shaped." Wanda smiled, obviously trying her best to comfort you, "They're eating right now."

She'd never confirmed, but you were sure Wanda wasn't straight. Whether she was gay, pan, bi, or whatever else, has yet to be clarified, but you were sure she at  _least_  wasn't straight.

And, using Sherlock's brilliant ways of deduction, you figured she was attracted to you. Although, whether it was just a crush or she just  _really_  liked you was also undecided. And for right now, you didn't really care. Being in love wouldn't benefit anyone, including anyone you decided to date, and you made it your job to be helpful. (Which Tony kinda thought was ridiculous, because that meant you didn't really have a social life and all that, which is something he  _really_  stood for with all of you, but he sucked it up when he realized you weren't going to stop.)

Using these deduction methods, you also learned that Peter and Pietro also had feelings for you, although what those feelings were was also under investigation.   
You could've found out easily. However, if you weren't careful, you'd have a full-on love mess that nobody has that time for. Especially you.

You quickly thank Wanda and tell her that you need to get dressed. She responded with a nice 'you're welcome' and let you go with a warm and understanding smile.

Once you got to your room, you sighed.  _This is going to be a long day_ , you thought.  _That means it'll feel like you've lived longer!_  you practically heard Malissa's bubbly voice telling you.

Huh, as if you  _wanted_  to live longer...

But you'd keep that part to yourself.

And all you could do was sigh when you heard a large crash come from what had to be the kitchen.

You were  _not_  ready for the day to begin.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so you probably won’t like this, but you’re not going to find out what Scott and your lovely selves talked about until later in the story. (Sorry) Also, did I use too many pronouns? Feel free to tell me because I have no idea. :p 
> 
> Also, if anyone had thoughts on how I can improve my writing, where I should go with the story, or similar things, feel free to chat with me! I’d be happy to hear what you guys have to say! :D


	11. Pancakes and Secret Fights

The day had already started off slowly, and questions kept gathering in the back of your mind. However, as soon as you got to the kitchen, you knew you'd be fine.

Katie had apparently startled Judy, a cat that everyone practically forced Tony to get, and gotten pancake batter everywhere.

Including all over Peter and Pietro.

They were all smiling, laughing at Judy and helping Katie clean up her mess. They all looked so cute...

You just shook your head, that wasn't an okay thing to think about, remember? Peter and Pietro were cute, sure, but not in the wrong sense. (It was called the wrong sense for a reason, you reminded yourself.)

You smiled, despite the weird feeling in your chest... or were you smiling because of the weird feeling in your chest?

Either way, you were smiling as you walked farther into the kitchen.

"Do you require some assistance?" You asked in a bit of a British accent.

Katie smiled up at you, her eyes shining, "You're up!" her smile grew, "Wanda said you zoned out in the shower again, are you okay?" Katie asked, looking a little concerned.

The room grew a little quieter than what would be considered comfortable, and you just gave her a small smile.

"Yeah, I'm alright kiddo. I was just reaaaalllly tired this morning because Judy kept me up with her playful meows!" you stretched out, pretending to yawn.

Katie knew you were lying, she wasn't stupid, but she couldn't help but laugh at how horrendously fake you looked.

Your smile became real, and you decided to leave the conversation there.

"So, what's with all this mess?" you asked, gesturing around at the kitchen. "Did this become a DC movie? Did something blow up in our house?"

A few laughs made you smile, but Katie spoke up.

"No, silly! We just had a little accident!" she exclaimed through her giggles.

"And don't worry," an accented voice spoke up, "It'll b cleaned up in no time. I promise."

You turned to see none other than the silver speedster himself, smiling down at you from where he stood.

He was in uniform, which was a little confusing, but you decided to ignore it for now. It'd been a year, but it was as if he hadn't aged a day.

Maybe that's why you liked him so much. In a world full of change, he was consistent. He can go fast, but he's willing to go slow for those he cares about...

You're shaken from your thoughts by a nine-year-old Chloe as she stares down at you. "You should warn us before you zone out, or something. Because Katie was starting to think you were ignoring her." she deadpanned.

That was a fun thing about Chloe. She was usually gentle, but she's cold. The mornings she was tired decided whether or not she was nice though. She must be tired...

"Sorry," you offer a sheepish smile, "I just got carried away with my thoughts..."

Chloe just stared at you.

Wow, you thought to yourself, Chloe isn't taking anybody's bullshit today, okay then...

Then, after a moment of this, she just walked off. "I'm going to go wait outside with Micheal. I already ate," she called back.

She was probably the angstiest child out of all of you, which was always surprising due to the fact that she was nine.

But hey, a person's a person. And Tony's house would accept her no matter what.

"Okay, then, " you smiled, "just remember to grab your lunch." You pointed to the black and navy blue lunch box on the counter. This was what, the fourth time she's tried to leave it in the past two weeks? Yeah, that sounded about right.

"I'm done with my breakfast too, Y/n. I'm gonna go wait for you guys with them." Scarllet grabbed Chloe's lunchbox and nodded to the door.

As soon as the two of them were gone, you turned back to Katie. "Are they alright? They look like they're... upset with each other." You asked, already having an idea as to what was actually happening. You just hoped you could get a better, simpler answer.

Katie shrugged, "I think I heard the two of them arguing earlier. Scarllet was shouting about Chloe's lunchbox and Chloe... Chloe was swearing. She told Scarllet that she wasn't her mom and that she didn't need her to care about her." Katie looked disturbed by the memory, and you were about to tell her that she didn't have to keep going, but she interrupted before you got the chance.

"Scarllet said Chloe was going to die..." there were tears in her eyes, "But that's not true, right? We're not going to let that happen?" her voice broke a little, along with a piece of your heart.

"Katelyn, of course not!" you exclaimed softly, picking her up and holding her close. "Chloe's not going to die anytime soon. Especially while I'm here with you guys." You told her.

"But Scarllet's so smart...," Katie whispered.

"And smart people are wrong all the time, Kate. That's how scientists know so much, remember? That's how you learn! That's how you grow." You smile, moving her over to your hip so you can tickle her stomach. Her giggles always cheered both of you up.

"Stop! Please stop!" She cried, tears of laughter filling her eyes as she squirmed around.

You listened and stopped, setting her down with a smile. "See? Everything will be fine, love. I can promise you that." You winked and watched as her face lit up with hope and joy.

Next thing...

Shit.

Your phone went off, an alarm that told you school was going to start in 20 minutes. With the five minute walk to school, you had ten minutes to get ready.

Isn't that fun and convenient, you thought. A sigh escapes your lips as they curled into a small frown.

Then, as if by magic, your backpack landed in your hands.

It was fully packed, laptop and all, and it even had a quick breakfast made and packed in it.

You looked up to see Peter and Pietro, smiling at you with a warm thumbs up.

A playful eye-roll and a hug later, you were pulling Malissa out of the door, Katie and Peter chuckling by your side.

"It's too early to be leaving the house!" Malissa whined, throwing her head back as she dramatically sighed.

"Oof, mood." Maverik sighed, taking a long drink from his coffee. There was no doubt in your mind that it was coffee. He was always drinking it.

"Come on guys, or we're going to be late." Micheal spat.

Why was everyone upset?

You decided to ignore it until after dinner.

I just hope everything stays stable until then, you thought, but until then we'll just have to wait and see...


	12. What The  H e l l  is Happening?

 

School, while boring and unnecessary due to the fact that you’ve already graduated, was one of the best parts of your day. 

   You got to basically do anything you wanted, within reason. The only reason you were there was because all your college courses were online, and being in the school library kept you close to everyone. You could walk with them to and from school, and focus on all your lectures while in the school’s library. 

   However, as you guys walked to school, everything was silent. You could practically hear Micheal’s jaw grinding, and you actually could hear Scarllet picking at her nails. 

   With a silent sigh, you slip your hand into hers as you two walked together in sync. She needs to stop picking at her fingers until they bleed if she wants to use them to type more scientific theses. And she knew that too. 

   "Try not to get too anxious today. Everything’s gonna be alright,“ you muttered, watching Scarllet nod along in your peripheral vision, "Did you take your meds today?” you ask, now actually turning to look at her.

   She looked… too anxious to have taken her meds.

   "I sort of… forgot.,“ she mumbled, trying to pick at her thumb. Your hand got in the way, and she gave you a slightly panicked look. 

   A sigh escapes your lips before you can hold it back, but you nod in understanding. "Just remember to take them when we get home, please?” You gave her a hopeful smile.

   Scarllet nodded eagerly, “Yeah, but could you remind me? I’ll probably forget by lunch with my muddled brain.” she shrugged, a nervous chuckle escaping her throat. 

   You nodded, offering a small smile as you got to the doors of Chloe and Katie’s school.

   "Okay you two,“ you smiled at Katie and Chloe, "Have a good day at school! And if anyone bugs you, don’t be afraid to tell ‘em off.” You winked, hoping they didn’t actually know any swear words.  

   Well, Chloe probably does, but that’s beside the point.

   It’s eight-thirty and everyone is in their class by now, so you’ve retreated to the library to watch your trig lecture. You wanted to just sit and sleep here; because Trig was your hardest subject. Not because the actual math is hard, but because you can never seem to focus on it. You always ended up zoning out, which meant you had to watch it over again. 

   Hours passed by, and you only left the library once to use the restroom, which surprised the librarian after she saw you chug down four coffees. 

   Then again, was that really surprising for you?

   The last bell of the day rang and you left the library, actually a little nervous about what would happen when you asked about this morning. 

   But it was too late to be nervous because, by the time you got home, things were too tense to be realistically okay. 

   Peter, seemed fine, as always. He asked if you could be his subject for his science project. You accepted, and he looked like he was going to pass out, then cry in his sleep or something.

   Unfortunately, everyone else looked fucked. 

   Micheal had yet another busted lip (you’ve always wondered how he’s managed to keep his snake bites in tacked since he’s gotten them), a bruise on his jaw that looked close to bleeding, and the starting of a black eye. But the scariest thing? The scariest thing was how…  _frazzled_  he looked. You honestly thought he was going to cry when Maverik stumbled on the sidewalk. 

   Speaking of Maverik, he was acting strangely as well. It looked like he was trying to hide a limp and pain by his ribs. His hood was up the entire walk home, despite the fact that he had a hat (which ended up being held in his pocket), and he didn’t talk or smile. Instead, he chose to glare at everyone who passed. He also tried avoiding your gaze, walking ahead of you and keeping his face down. And even though he tried to hide it, you could still hear the way he groaned every time someone bumped into him.

   And that wasn’t the worst of it. 

   Katie was on the verge of tears the entire way home, refusing to talk about how her day went. Actually, she refused to talk at all. She kept her head down too, playing with the rim of her shirt. She walked silently without purpose or care, which lead to her tripping multiple times. She also walked into a pole (which Chloe laughed at), and fell on her face without a normal reaction. 

   Chloe was acting as she usually does, somehow ignoring the angry glares Scarllet shot at her every time she sighed. It was like Scarllet wanted her to stop breathing or something.

   The most surprising thing, however, was the fact that Malissa, who always oozed confidence with every breath and fiber of her being, seemed about as anxious as Scarllet is when she forgets to take her meds. 

   You don’t know what’s been going on, because you’ve been gone all weekend for a mission, but you know what happened had to have been bad. 

   And just when you thought things wouldn’t get any worse, fate decided to prove you wrong.

   When everyone got back to the tower, the real shit went down.

   It all honestly reminded you of a scene from a movie as you watched it play out. Like it was too dramatic and horrible to be true.

   Katie sulked in the living room as she slowly pulled out her homework and a bag full of animal crackers. As soon as she set it down, she hesitated, tears gathering in her eyes as she shook her head and put the bag back in her backpack. 

   Scott, a nearby observer, ave her a  concerned look. 

   "Katie, is everything okay?“ he got up from his seat on a nearby couch and moved to sit by Katie, who was trying her god damned hardest to keep herself from crying. "What’s wrong?" 

   Katie sniffed, tried to shake her head, she tried to tell him to go away, but when she opened her mouth all she could manage was a choked back sob. She was trying so hard not to cry, she hated crying because it made other people sad, and yet here she was. 

   "Hey hey hey, what’s wrong Kit-kat?” Scott asked, looking both pained and concerned by her tears. “What happened?" 

   Katie could hold back anymore, she bawled as she threw herself into Scott’s opened arms.

   "Chloe said she’d rather die than eat with me at lunch today!” Katie sobbed, her tears soaking her cheeks as well as Scott’s tee shirt. 

   Scott looked surprised, to say the least. He knew Chloe could be a bit harsh, but he didn’t think she’d go that far… There had to more to the story, right?

   "What do you mean?“ Scott asked, his eyes frantically searching for some sort of lie. He believed her, absolutely, he just hoped… he hoped Chloe wasn’t that cruel.

   Katie couldn’t breathe, she was trying, she really was, but she couldn’t. She was choking on her tears, her nose was too stuffed, and she couldn’t focus. She was too distressed.

   Then, as if fate wanted this to get worse, Steve and Bucky entered the living space after just having finished their midday training/workout and showering.


	13. A Promise is Made

Four eyes landed on Katie, who was a complete mess in Scott's arms. Then, those same eyes moved to Scott, narrowing as they completely misunderstood the situation. You figured an angry mother bear would give Scott a kinder look than the ones being sent his way by Steve and Bucky.

Then again, their wrath would be nothing compared to Thor's, who would hopefully never hear about this.  While Thor's gone, Katie's their responsibility. All they could see was Katie crying with a panicked Scott, who'd noticed them and began to panic more.

"Guys, I have no idea what's happening. She got home from school al upset and sad-- she wouldn't even eat her animal crackers! And when I asked her what was wrong, she told me Chloe told her she'd rather die before she ate with her, and then she started bawling her eyes out!"Scott tried to explain. He could tell by the look Steve and Bucky were giving him that they were not happy with him.

Scott's words didn't change their mind, though. Because, while they did trust him, at the moment they didn't care about him. All they cared about was making Katie feel better.

"Katie? What happened?!" Bucky was quick into action, reaching her in only a couple of long strides. He was trying to sound calm and collected while trying to be quiet and gentle, but it was obvious he was freaking out.

"Chloe-- Chloe,--" she was chocking on her tears, barely able to breathe.

"Chloe said she'd rather die than eat with me at lunch. Ever." She wailed, sounding similar to a mother who'd just lost her child.

Although it'd be kind of weird if she had a kid, you thought, she is six after all.

"What?!" Bucky was trying really hard to stay composed. Like, really excruciatingly hard. However, he was also losing his shit right now.

How was he supposed to just sit there and watch her cry? How could he go over there when this upset? If he did, she'd just cry even harder. (Even though that seemed practically impossible at this point.)

His eyes landed on Scott, who he just realized was here the entire time, and was probably the source of the tears.

Of course, this accusation didn't make any sense, but it was all his panicked mind gave him.

"Scott, what the hell did you do?!" Steve asked, catching onto Bucky's train of thought.

("It's like the two are telepathically connected", you'd said once to Scarllet while helping her with an English assignment. (Scarlet was intrigued by this comment, and hypothesized the following reply within a matter of moments: "Well, they both have a form of the same serum, and they were...  _very..._  connected-- before that. Maybe they are telepathically connected through science that we have yet to understand." (You're mind was blown, but you also weren't surprised.)))

Scott was admittedly, wholesomely, and undoubtedly terrified. He was probably scared of Stucky's (that's what the team called them when they were being lazy and didn't want to say both of their names separately because-- connected) anger than their actual personalities.

Especially Bucky. Scott was a super fan, but he was also very aware of what Bucky's past consisted of, and he knew that Bucky was not one to be nice and understanding when angry.

You, on the other hand, weren't scared of anybody on the team. That's not how teams work anyway. The more you fear each other, the more time you spend being anxious instead of getting work done and being productive.

You stood now, finally done watching from the other side of the living room. (Well, the room you were in acted as a living room. It didn't really look like one though.)

"Scott didn't do anything wrong. Clearly, he's just trying to help Katie." You got up, leaving your phone on the couch as you casually made your way over to the scene that was being caused.

"She's crying in  _his lap."_ Bucky pointed out. He was trying to justify a irrelevant point, which you thought was actually kind of funny.

"Yes, and Scott's sitting on a very stiff couch." you stated, as if it were obvious (which, it kind of was...). This was true, and painfully so. The couch was new, so it was still stiff and kind of uncomfortable. Of course, everyone ignored this fact because Micheal had been the one to pick it, and he almost never actively participated in anything that had to do with the Avengers.

"I'll be honest," you stated, leaning closer like you do when you tell someone a secret, "If I had the choice between Scott and the couch, I'd sit on Scott too." you told them.

You ignored the mortified expressions that leaped into their faces.

Now, to focus on Katie.

You leaned in closer to the youngest child, kneeling in the floor so you could be just a little shorter than her (she likes being tall). You placed your hands on hers, taking them away from her eyes.

"Hey baby girl," you spoke softly, so you wouldn't scare her. You wanted to remind her of her mother. She'd always liked her mom. Her mom always listened and tried to help. "I need you to look at me, can we do that?" You asked.

Katie nodded from within her sort of cocoon that she'd made in Scott's jacket. The perks of being small, you guessed.

When she turned and looked at you, you could feel your heart strings being pulled. Katie almost never cried. She hated crying. She claimed that the tears felt funny and that she didn't like how people looked at her. Crying makes other people sad, and she doesn't like making other people sad. These past couple of days must've been pretty rough on her if she's crying this hard, you thought.

"Katelyn, honey," you started, being sure to keep your voice soft and kind, "could you tell me what's been going on? What's made you so upset?" You asked, rubbing a soothing thumb across the back of her hands as they rested within yours.

Katie tried to talk, but it resulted in her huffing and puffing as she tried to breathe through another wave of tears.

"Katie, doll, breathe. It's going to be okay." Bucky reassured from somewhere behind you.

"But what if it's  _not_?" Katie exclaimed, huffing between every word.

"Katie, I promise you, everything's going to be fine." You told her, something changing in your eyes and your tone. Your voice was still kind, but you noticed the stern edge to it. And from the looks of Katie, she could hear it too. You meant that promise. you meant that promise and you'd die before you broke it.

With that, Katie began to calm down a little bit. However, she still looked wary

"You promise? Like, pink promise?" she asked, looking to you with both seriousness and absolute trust. She was hanging on your every word.

She's depending on you.

Images flash through your mind. Vague memories of the beech with your little brother and sister run through your mind, and you can practically smell the ocean. Katie is a part of your new family. A family that was going to last longer, and you weren't going to let anything happen to it.

There was no hesitation between her asking and your quick nod. "I promise." You told her, "I won't let anything happen to you. As long as my parents shall both be dead." You added, insuring this wasn't something you were going to forget.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oof oof oof. I hope you guys don't mind how I keep splitting this up! I just don't like making the chapters seem to long or anything.  
> Also, if there's any way you think I can improve my writing, feel free to let me know!  
> I hope you enjoyed!  
> \--AlexJ


	14. This Mad Night's Almost Peaceful Interlude

After Katie had calmed down, she spilled everything she knew.

Apparently, you'd missed a lot when you were gone.

Chloe had stopped eating for most of the duration of your mission, and she intentionally left her lunchbox at home on the counter so she couldn't eat it at school. When confronted about this, Chloe had told Scarllet that she was fine, and that she just wasn't hungry. When asked more questions, she frankly told Scarllet to fuck off, and tried to ignore her.

However, Scarllet gets very angry when people tell her that. So, this resulted in a fight, which was only heard by a couple of people. None of which happened to be any of their parental units, which was fun.

After that, Chloe wasn't as nice, and she was always cold-- like she was always tired. Then, her grades started dropping, and she got an F on a test that was really important to her. When Maverik tried talking to her, she flipped her shit and told him to get the fuck out of her room.

And honestly, the amount of swearing that Chloe was supposedly doing was almost concerning, but you decided that was the least of your worries.

When Katie was finished, and you were all caught up, both Steve and Bucky seemed completely horrified. You could tell that they also felt awful. Chloe was their daughter, after all, and they tried to show her as much love and care as they could without smothering her (which was a hard thing to accomplish. Chloe's very people sensitive.).

And now they were finding out something was very wrong?

Yeah, they probably felt horrible.

However, you stopped them when they went to go talk to Chloe.

"Trust me when I say she'll shut down as soon as you ask her about it." you told them. "You should probably have Clint, Nat, or T'challa talk to her. They're more likely to get through to her." You advised.

See, there's this thing that Chloe does. Because she's very anxious, shy, and people sensitive, she'll randomly stop all verbal communication. Instead, she'll use sign language and watch as everyone struggles around her. These episodes either last days or weeks, and she'll never tell you when it's coming.

The saddest part, though, was the fact that it wasn't even on purpose. It's like a fight or flight reflex.

Unfortunately, you didn't get too long to think about this too long before the rest of the team got home. And on night's like tonight, that meant dinner would be served in twenty minutes.

These twenty minutes passed by pretty quickly, as per usual. Everyone was busy doing something. Malissa was setting the table, Maverik was helping Wanda with the cheese garlic bread that always came with Monday night pizzas, Micheal was intently watching the microwave timer, and Scarllet was helping to pick out a movie. Chloe was nowhere to be seen, but that wasn't very surprising from what you'd just heard.

Instead if watching a movie, as the team usually did, you started a TV series called 'the magicians'. It was about a guy who ended up discovering the fact that magic was real, and it was his journey through hid learning process.

Well, that's how Micheal had described it, anyways. You were too preoccupied by everyone's peculiar behavior.

Everyone seemed on edge. You didn't know what they were on the edge of-- you figured it was probably a mental breakdown of some sort-- but you knew the result wouldn't be good.

These feelings became apparent after dinner, when most of the adults wandered off. (Probably to sleep, you'd figured, seven kids ought to be stressful.)

Scarllet and Micheal talked in a hushed tone near the TV. She was trying to bite her thumb, but Micheal was holding her hands. You couldn't hear what they were saying, but from what you could see, they were talking casually about something that might've made Scarllet anxious. 

Well, she didn't look too anxious, actually. She looked more annoyed than anything.

Well, until Micheal abruptly stood.

"What the fuck did you just say to me?!" he practically shouted. His hands clenched into fists at his sides as Scarllet went from annoyed to absolutely terrified. 

You sat up, now on guard. 

Whatever was about to go down was something you knew wouldn't be pretty.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Micheal is by far my favorite character. Honestly. Right next to Tony, Thor, and Scott. He's the type of person you probably wouldn't like in real life, but is so amusing in stories.  
> Oof, I just really like him, and I'm hoping you'll see why later. :D  
> Also, if there's anything you think I should fix or change with my writing, or you have any recommendations on where the story should go, feel free to let me know!  
> \--AlexJ


	15. Micheal Loses His Shit

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one's coming out earlier than planned thanks to Liz and their comment! I hope you like it-- and thank you for the motivation! :)

 

 

Before, when Micheal got upset, nobody really tried to stop him aside from you. Before, nobody  _could_ stop him. 

Well, relatively speaking. He usually left before going and being destructive, so he didn't scare Chloe and Katie. However, his anger happened too fast. 

Scarllet stood as well, backing up as she realized what she'd said had pretty harsh consequences. 

And of course, Micheal would never harm her, but she also wouldn't believe him if he said that while angry. Everyone changes when they're angry. When you get as angry as Michel does, it's hard to know and understand what's happening and things just-- happen. 

For example, Micheal didn't mean to break the TV. He did, though. He completely smashed it after ripping it from the wall. Then, he clenched his fists, which probably had broken glass in them. You could tell due to the way he winced as he did it, but it was the only way.

You understood why he smashed the TV. Well, to a certain extent. You didn't know what had made him angry, but you knew why he'd smash the TV. He didn't want to smash Scarllet's face. He loved her as a younger sister. He loved all of you, even if he sucked ass at showing it normally. 

Micheal was violent, but he'd  _never. **Never**  _ina million years hit them. (For you and Maverik, things were different, but you both understood that and were fine with it.)

Micheal glared at Scarllet, looking more upset and betrayed than actually angry. 

"You. Fucking. Bitch." he sounded angry, but he didn't yell. It was scariest when he did that, too. Because he'd be quiet one second, then he'd be shouting profanities the next. Although, you were more concerned with the quiver in his voice.

Micheal was on the verge of tears.

This was concerning, mainly due to the fact that he wasn't one to cry very easily either. At least from what you've noticed. The last time you saw him cry was when he broke three ribs after falling down three flights of stairs, and that was only because it was an unavoidable thing that your eyes did when you were in immense pain.

The only time before that, was when he broke two knuckles after punching a concrete wall. 

So yeah, seeing Micheal on the verge of tears in the living room, after  _Scarllet_  of all people had said something, was... interesting-- to say the least.

 _Something else must've happened_ , you thought,  _something **bad**._

Just then, just when you were starting to think Micheal might've gotten his shit together and was done destroying things (which was a plus because the TV you had was cracked anyways, and that was the only thing he destroyed), Scarllet spoke up.

"Oh, shut up Micheal!" Scarllet rolled her eyes,  "Don't get your jockstrap in a twist. We're  _all_  having problems. Get your shit together and get over it. You get into fights all the time."

Scarllet's words shocked you. She wasn't usually one to speak up like that, and you began to wonder what had given her the sudden burst of courage. One thing was for sure: she definitely remembered to take her meds.

Out of the corner of your eye, you saw Maverik tense and sit up.  _He must know something_ , you figured.

Something happened during school today. There was a fight behind the scenes, which wasn't uncommon. However, something made this different from Micheal's usual behind-the-school-brawl. Nobody had been contacted due to escalation, after all.

Your eyes stayed on Micheal as time seemed to slow. The murderous look in his eye actually made you nervous. He'd never hit Scarllet, but he looked like he wanted to for the first time in his life. q

Thankfully, instead, he turned and took a piece of what was left of the shattered TV and threw it against the wall behind him, nearly hitting Maverik's head.

Maverik looked at you with... fear. That was new.

You nodded and stood, understanding that someone had to intervene.

However, things did not go to plan. You got to Micheal and he immediately lashed out, getting a good hit right to your temple.

You fell, a headache already forming as you got back up, "Micheal," you started, your voice calm and filled with warning, "you need to calm the fuck down."

"Yeah, that's what they always say." Micheal spat back, is fists only growing tighter. As long as he was angry, he wouldn't stop fighting. The only problem was, you didn't know why he was angry.

Another hit was thrown, and you went to block only--

"Psych," Micheal growled, throwing a strong uppercut.

It hit your chin, and you were sure Maverik could here your teeth smash together. There was pain, but it didn't matter. You stumbled back and fell. You wouldn't pass out, like the average person, but you'd be in shock for at least a few seconds.

That was the best technique you'd seen from Micheal. His precision was enough to tell you he was really, deeply upset.

You were about to get up. You were going to keep going. You were going to finish this and demand Maverik tell you what the hell had happened.

You were until a bright ring appeared under Micheal and sucked him into an abyss.

 _Stephen_ , you realized.  _That's good. He'll calm him down._

With a somewhat decent breath, you stood. You also noted the metallic taste in your mouth.

Of course, you were bleeding. It wouldn't be a proper fight without blood.

Your slightly unfocused gaze landed on Maverik for a moment, before quickly shifting to Scarllet.

"Where the fuck do you think  _you're_ going?" You asked, watching as she froze in place. She was probably hoping you were a cinematic dinosaur that wouldn't see her if she stood still enough. Unfortunate newsflash for her: You're not. "Standing still isn't going to get you out of trouble." You told her.

You then gestured to one of the many places to lounge in the 'living room', "I recommend you sit down, Scar. You're gonna be here for a while."

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed!


	16. Sixteen Candles Had Less Angst

Once everything had been explained, you actually felt... weird. It was strange, actually. 

One thing you always tried to remind yourself as you went through life was how complicated things were. How complex the universe is, and how fucked it can be. Life was always expanding, the universe hasn't, and probably couldn't all be explored in one life time, and everyone's life was really just a different perception of the same reality. 

Sure, thinking of this always put you into mini existential crises because of how it made you feel dizzy, but in a way it was kind of humbling.

Right now, however, it was confusing and painful.

Maverik had been wearing his hood up while walking home to hide a busted lip, kind of puffy cheek, and a bursted vein in his eye that went well with the blue and yellow around it. When asked what the fuck had happened to him during dinner, Maverik had said that he'd fallen down the stairs. And, being the trusting guardians they are, the team went with it.

However, what had actually happened, was a fight. 

Micheal gets into fight often, but Maverik? Maverik almost never gets dragged into them. That's how it was so easy to tell that this was more than a fight. It wasn't escalated enough to get them into the principle's office, and nobody had really heard about it yet. That's probably how you'd missed it.

From what Maverik had said (which wasn't much, but he looked a little traumatized, so you didn't force every bit of shit out of him), he'd found Micheal getting the shit beat out of him. There were transphobic slurs, insults towards Maverik, and other stupid things that didn't make sense to you. 

Then Maverik, being the brother that he is, told them to stop and back the fuck off. Micheal, from what he could see, looked almost unconscious. They'd been stomping on his ribs, which had no doubt been broken at least a little by that point. He'd probably been wearing his binder for too long anyways (because the little shit does that), so there was no doubt in Maverik's mind that Micheal had been suffocating.

"I thought I was going to kill them." Maverik sniffed, "I didn't hit their faced, and no one'd believe them if they said I started the fight, so I went all out. I think I-- I broke a few ribs and I broke one their hands and I--"

You'd stopped him there. He was on the verge of tears, he was angry, he was confused. It was like he'd blacked out, from his point of view.

Maverik had the most technique out of all of you. Of course, when the  _Avengers_  took all of you in, they gave you lessons in self defense, but Maverik had already been in and out of wrestling, boxing, and karate for years. He absorbed things quickly, and his muscle memory was on point. The only thing that put him apart from Micheal was the fact that he didn't hurt people. That wasn't Maverik's thing. He lacked the type of fire Micheal has.

So... that's what Micheal was all riled up about.

What was Scarllet having trouble with, then?

When asked, she said she'd rather not talk about it. You didn't let her get away with that bullshit because it was too late and things were too urgent. 

"Chloe's..." sh sighed, "I think Chloe's anorexic, and if she doesn't get a regular meal plan soon--" she took a quick breath, "I think she's going to die."

This actually didn't surprise you. In fact, you were more surprised that  _that_  was what had been bugging her.

So you shook your head. It wasn't enough. Scarllet's anxious, but this wouldn't get her to snap at Micheal. "What's the real reason?" you asked, squinting at her ever so slightly.

Now she looked uncomfortable. She probably thought you were reading her mind, which would be a false (but morally just) accusation. 

"I uh..." she cleared her throat, which probably felt bone dry, "I bumped into someone yesterday." 

This was a normal occurrence, so you weren't given enough information. Scarllet was always bumping into people because she looks at the ground when she walks. Why the hell was she so shaken by something like this?

"It was my aunt." she clarified. 

Now, even Maverik looked shaken. (Although, he'd already looked shaken due to the incident that had just previously occurred with Micheal.) 

Scarllet's aunt is her only living relative, and a fucking mess at best. There was a reason Scarllet was in a foster home, after all. And if Scarllet bumped into her aunt, and everyone else found out, of course there'd be worrying about shitty relatives randomly coming to say hi. 

Thankfully, Katie's father's still in prison, Chloe's mother still wants nothing to do with her, and Malissa doesn't have anybody to worry about because now that she's adopted, the state probably won't take her back.

Everyone else is accounted for, as far as you know. 

And, your backup plan is in place. 

Scott entered then living room, undetected as you thought about the next steps to take. He noticed your 'thinking expression' and started polite conversation with Maverik and Scarllet.

"So, how were your guys's days?" He asked, a hopeful light in his eyes.

"Fine, thanks." Maverik smiled. 

"Yeah, not much happened, actually." Scarllet lied. 

You shot Scarllet a weird look.

You understood why she'd lied before, but you didn't understand why she would lie  _now_. There was no doubt their parents had heard about Micheal's outburst by now. He was already with Stephen, after all. They were probably brawling in Norway to calm him down. 

"Scott, I think Katie's going to need some cheering up before going to school tomorrow. Do you think you could take her shopping? Maybe get her some more stuffies?" You asked, sending a warm, yet stern and commanding smile his way.

Scott looked surprised, probably because he was in his PJs, and Wade was usually the one to do the cheering up around here. 

"Wade's with Vanessa." You clarified, "And Bucky doesn't want Katie to go places with him because he's inappropriate." You added with a shrug. 

It really was such a small detail, the whole 'stay away from Wade he's a bad influence' thing. Nobody listened to them saying that because 1) He's never around anyways. (He's not actually a part of the team. The team just can't arrest him because he's actually pretty helpful when they really need him to be). 2) When people go places with him, they always meet up with him outside the tower, so no one really knows about it because they don't really pay attention (Scott knows this because almost all of y'all really like him and trust him. (He's actually really sweet and good with secrets.)) and 3) No one cares if the team doesn't like him. Almost everyone else does, and they love being around him, so no one's really going to get in the way of that. (Kind of like a platonic 'but daddy I love him' thing.)

Either way, he was unavailable. He was with Vanessa, and you didn't want to bother him. 

Plus, you needed Scott to be gone, and telling him to fuck off would be suspicious and rude.

"It would be a big help," Scarllet chipped in, noticing your play.

 "Okay then... alright..." Scott nodded, "I'll go."

You nodded and smiled as he left the room, happy to be alone with Maverik and Scarllet again. You all needed to calm down, and you had just the way to do it.

"Finding Nemo, anyone?"

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed! Feel free to leave any commentary you have. I love reading it! :D


	17. Sweet Dreams in Sea Major

You and your parents loved the beach.

In fact, you'd try to go every other weekend when they had the time off. You liked the long island's beaches. 

So, as you stand there, watching your parents bury you in the sand, you begin to wonder. Your mind wanders off, and you land on one, simple question.

Why?

And from this, sprung so many hard and almost unexplainable questions.  

Why did everything go to hell? Why did things happen the way they did? 

Why did it have to be you?

After a moment of consideration, you stop yourself.  _These questions are better off left alone,_  you reminded yourself,  _people seldom like the answers to those questions, so don't go thinking you're gonna be special_. 

You look back to the waters, only to find your parents gone. Instead, it's your current family. tony, Scarllet, Stephen, Steve, Bucky, Micheal, Maverik... They're all there.

The world around you glitches, like it would if you were in a broken simulation. Things return to normal, if only for a second, before glitching again.

You memories shift and glitch around you as you start to feel dizzy. You can't control what's happening-- this dream...

This dream just became a nightmare.

You look around you, you look around at your new place. You're...

home. 

\---------

You pinch yourself, wondering if this is real. You can feel it, but it's dulled as if there were a filter between you and yourself-- like you have gloves on. 

You're home, but are you really?

You can smell ( favorite baked goods) coming from the kitchen, the type your dad would always make and accidentally burn. You could hear your mother humming her favorite song from in the kitchen-- the way she always did while cleaning.

You had to be at home. This  _was_  home. This was  _your_  home.

You raced from your place by the door to the kitchen, "Mom! Dad! is that really--" you stop in your tracks. Nobody was there. 

"Honey, is that you?" that was your mother's voice. She sounded so close. Close enough to touch but there was no one in sight. 

There was no one. 

You tried to run outside, you tried to shout call out. You did. You could hear yourself. You could hear your footsteps, feel the vibrations your feet made. You could smell the wood that made the patio.

This feels so real. This is real. This is a memory. This has to be a memory.

 _No_ , you mentally scold yourself,  _memories have people. Memories have pain. You know when you're in a memory. You're in a dream-- a nightmare._

It was true. You'd fallen asleep on the couch while watching Finding Nemo. Scarllet was across the room, curled up into herself on the loveseat. Maverik was there with you too, laying in the cuddle corner about two feet away from you.

From where you were, where you stood in your own nightmare-- your own mind, the world was nonexistent. 

They were so close. They just had to tap your shoulder...

And yet, from here, where you crumpled to the floor as you struggled to breathe, they were worlds away.

You could breathe. You could die here, right? Your heart would stress out and give up?

Ha, you'd laugh at yourself if you didn't feel like you were dying. 

But you felt like you were. 

You'd began to give up. You gave in. You gave in to the pain, you let your senses ache and you let yourself scream. You cried. You suffocated in this madness that drove you deeper into yourself and you didn't try to escape because you knew you couldn't.

Then, as if by magic, you woke up. 

Maybe it was magic. 

======================

You struggled to breathe as Stephen brought you into his room. You'd been here before to talk about mystical stuff and freak out sessions. He gave you psychological evaluations once a month per Tony and Bruce's request. 

Peter was next to him, looking pretty freaked out. You wondered if you'd accidentally teleported yourself into his room in your sleep again.

"Stephen, what's happening?" Peter asked, but he sounded... far away... it was weird. 

Were you dying? 

At the thought,  your breathing became more rapid than it already had been. You could feel your heart pounding. Surely, you didn't need  _this_  much blood if you were laying down.

At that thought, you looked around you, wondering what the hell was actually happening. You tried to sit up, but you couldn't. 

A whimper, struggling, calling out for someone, a scream.

Your vision was blurring, tears were in your eyes sure, but you were also starting to black out. It was like someone was starting to erase the world from your view, starting from the corners of your eyes and working their way in to make it more painful-- like in the movies. 

Why was everything like in the movies?

"Y/n." A voice cut through everything. It was faint, you could barely hear it over the faint ringing in your ears. It sounded like there was a wall between you and the speaker. A soundproof wall. Were they screaming? Yelling?

Are you going crazy?

"Y/n, can you hear me." The voice was deep and stern. They were calm and collected, but there was concern there, too. Although, you could barely pay attention to it. You were too happy to hear another person.

Your vision began to clear ever so slightly, and you could see who was talking. 

Stephen looked... panicked. That didn't usually happen. What happened?

"Y/n, it's going to be okay. This isn't going to last very long." He told you, looking at you as if you were a kid who didn't understand English very well. 

You tried to breathe, but it was just choked sobs. Your heart had slowed down a little, but it still felt like you were dying. 

"It's going to be okay, Y/n." Peter chipped in, "Can you name five things you see?" he asked.

You recognized the trick. In fact, you were the one who'd taught him that. He wanted to be able to help Scarllet through a panic attack if she'd ever gotten one and there wasn't anyone else available. 

You looked around with wide and frightened eyes, "A uh-- bed.." you tried, your voice was a lot raspier than it had been before. "Stephen... the clook-- I mean cloak." you stammered.

"It's okay, he understands." Peter smiled at your progress, "Keep going." he prodded.

"The.. uh floor... a-nd the wall." You could feel your heart slowing a little as you sniffed through stammering breaths, "An-nd  the-- uh-- desk." You finished, feeling both accomplished and dumb. It was helping, but there wasn't a real reason for you to be panicking in the first place. 

"Four things you can feel?"  Peter asked.

"Uh... You... hair..." Your breathing became a little easier again as you listed things off, "leg... cloak... and the... floor?" You tried to move again, but it wasn't happening. Your heart picked up its pace, and Stephen was quick to explain.

"I had to restrain you because you were tearing Peter's room apart. You'll be able to move in a moment. I promise this is temporary." he explained carefully, so he didn't freak you out.

With that, you focused on your breathing for a split second. 

"Three things you can hear?" Peter offered.

"You... wind... and... my breathing." You replied, you still seemed far from breathing evenly, but you  _were_  still breathing.

"Good. Two things you can smell?" Peter asked.

You took a breath through your nose, happy to smell the cloak, and Peter's cologne in general. You listed the things and were happy to be able to breathe with only a few hiccups. 

"And last thing. One thing you can taste." Peter was smiling, looking proud of you, which you thought was odd. Maybe he was actually just proud of himself for remembering?

You licked your lips, grimacing at the familiar metallic taste. 

"Blood." you offered weakly, disappointed in yourself. 

Stephen's spell wore off, and you recognized the way your heart wasn't dying anymore. But instead of calm, you felt... drained, guilty.. tired.

Wait-- wasn't that just another word for drained?

"Y/n, Tony will understand." Stephen sighed, obviously reading your mind, "This wasn't nearly as bad as it was when we started." 

"It's true. You just ripped a couple of things off my wall this time!" Peter smiled and leaned forward, taking your hands in his. 

You pulled your hands away, hyper-focusing on how much pain they always cause. 

Peter looked hurt, but he had too much sympathy to blame you for it. Of course, you wouldn't want to be touched, you probably felt awful. So, he didn't dwell on it for long.

"Stephen, where's Micheal?" You asked. He lived with Strange, Wong, and Maverik, in Sanctum Sanctorum but you couldn't hear anything besides the crushing silence. 

"He's in his room." Stephen answered calmly, "I uh... had to soundproof it after the..." he cleared his throat uncomfortably, "incident with Mercedes." he explained.

Ah, of course. Micheal couldn't stop screaming profanities, so Stephen just threw him over his shoulder and took him. 

You would've thought back to it, but you honestly didn't want to. So instead, you slowly got up to make your way to Micheal.

"Thanks for... helping." you offered a smile, "And I apologize for any damage I may have caused."

Stephen just shrugged, and you were tempted to read his mind. He'd understand, after all. (He did it all the time, anyway.) Then again, you didn't like reading people's minds when you didn't have to. It put you on edge.

With a sigh, you round the corner after your third flight of stairs. Micheal's room was on the fourth floor. Of course, it was. He liked giving people a hard time, and he liked running steam off when he could. Four flights of stairs were perfect for that. ( _It was Stephen's idea to put him up here_ , you decided with a smug smile.  _Micheal wouldn't think of something like that on his own. He was pissed when he got here_.)

You knocked on the door and smiled when it didn't open. 

Micheal was probably sleeping, so you decided to just go with it. You opened the door, and your smile dropped. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed!  
> Feel free to leave comments telling me what you think, how I can improve, etc.. I love reading them! :D


	18. Fun Facts With Y/n L/n

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Oof does this chapter need a better title. Any ideas? Feel free to comment :D

Micheal actually wasn't there. 

This little fact, kind of freaked you out, because you could hear him talking. Sure, it was muffled, but it was still there. He sounded... calmer than he usually did. 

Almost every time you saw him with other people, his voice was harsh, and you could practically feel porcupine quills being shot at you in his mind. It was part of what made him ultimately terrifying. Well, that and the way he was constantly frowning and glaring at people. 

A screech made you flinch as you looked around in a confused daze. Where the fuck was all this coming from?

You quickly realized that the Sanctum Sanctorum was huge, and Micheal probably had more room than you could see. 

You started your search off with a quick face-palm before moving. This was so you knew how dumb you were being. Then, you looked in his closet. Fun fact: it was filled with both angsty and 'normal' clothes the way it should be.

Next, you decided to look in what had to be a bathroom. Fun fact: Micheal has struck a gold mine. His bathroom is fucking awesome. (It has very nice facilities and pretty elite looking tiles.)

Finally, as if you'd never been in Micheal's room before, you see a door that was about half your size, like it was meant for children. You also quickly notice the fact that the door had been bigger, but it got downsized, probably per Micheal's request. 

You shrug, ignoring all the reasons not to, and you open the door, crawling through without a second thought.

Fun fact: Micheal's room was bigger than you'd cared to notice. 

Your previously skeptical look turned into one of slight surprise and something you could only really describe as awe. 

You'd crawled into a music room of sorts. Well, that's what it looked like where you were. The room was split, but you couldn't really see the other parts of it yet.

You could, however, see Micheal. He was... playing the violin? Love's Sorrow, by Fritz Kreisler, a piece you'd heard while growing up. (Your mother played the piano composition.)

The violin was... gorgeous, to say the least. You'd never heard so much emotion put into it. There was frustration, pain, sadness... you were almost frozen by the sound of it.

And he, upon seeing you, stopped with a squeak. 

"Y/n? What the hell are you doing here?" he asked, looking more scared than angry. (It still sounded like he was angry though, that was just how his voice was at this point.)

You chuckled, standing up and brushing the dust off of your knees. 

"When the hell did you learn how to play an instrument?" You retorted. A moment ago, he looked relaxed, happy even. You felt a pang of guilt as you realized you just took that from him.

Micheal rolled his eyes, "Everyone's had their thing. Scarllet has science, Malissa has makeup, Maverik his kickboxing, Katie has soccer and her Disney movies, and Chloe has reading and being a bitch. You're an agent. My thing's always been music. I just don't play in front of crowds anymore because it...'s stupid." he shrugged, "My parents taught both Maverik and I to play, but Maverik never really stuck with it. He just..." Micheal shrugged again, "I guess it reminds him of mom and dad too much or something. But whatever. If he wants to forget about them and everything they've done for us, that's his thing." 

It was obviously bothering him because he went from looking anxious to hurt, but you knew he wouldn't talk about it right now. The two of you were close, but you were no Mercedes. 

"Well, what other instruments do you play?" you asked, stepping further into the room. You were slightly surprised by the fact that Micheal didn't seem to mind you walking further into his space. However, you didn't question it. If Micheal was starting to actually trust you, you weren't going to question him. He's already upset enough with this week's occurrences. 

Micheal gave you a tired look, which surprised you a little. His mood had changed completely, which usually only happened with anger. 

He shrugged, motioning for you to follow him as he walked further into the room you'd stumbled upon. His steps echoed throughout the room as he walked, and you could hear the way he was dragging them. You were starting to wonder if he'd forgotten to take his medication, which usually helped to stabilize his depressive mood swings. You would've asked him, but you figured he wouldn't like that and decided against it. 

He pointed over to a little corner to your right, and you couldn't help but notice the slight quiver in his hand as he did. You wanted to read his mind, you wanted to look inside his brain so you knew exactly how to fix what was wrong, but you also knew that Micheal didn't work like that. He'd know, and he wouldn't talk to you for weeks. 

In the small corner, there were about seven instruments. From what you could tell, he had a clarinet, flute, saxophone, guitar, drum set, cello, trumpet, and a stand for a violin. It honestly looked like he was keeping a small band's instruments here in his room, but you knew better. Micheal didn't have that many friends-- he wasn't very good at keeping them.

They were all in mint condition, from what you knew (which was quite a lot). The brass and woodwind instruments were polished and clean, and the area around them was also pretty free of dust. However, what really caught your eye, was Steinwaynway piano that was a few feet away. 

It was the classic black color, and you couldn't help but gape at the perfect condition it was in. You wanted to play it, but you didn't know how dirty your fingers were. You didn't want to taint its perfect image with your fucked everything.

And yet, there you stood, yearning to sit on top of the perfect looking bench. You wanted to play Love's sorrow, the way your mother had taught you. Maybe that would help you recover the dream you had, along with it's hidden meanings...

No. You stopped yourself, mentally backhanding your face, no amount of anything will help you with your mental shit. Forget it Y/n. 

Micheal seemed to notice you struggling, because he reached out and put a hand on your shoulder, "C'mon, Y/n. I've gotta take my meds. You can come back later and play it when you don't look like you're going to shit yourself." 

You chuckled at that, wondering how he saw your face. It probably did look like you were going to shit yourself. 

You nodded, realizing that you'd been right. Micheal hadn't taken his meds yet. 

"Yeah, let's go."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed!   
> Also, feel free to comment anything you think I can improve on, your thoughts, etc. I love reading them! XD


	19. Pasts, Powers, and The Shitty Possibility of Relation

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoy!  
> Also, feel free to comment anything you think I can improve on, your thoughts, etc. I love reading them! XD

 

 

Out of all your siblings, Micheal was probably the one you felt the most pity for. 

He was probably the one who had the saddest past, too. They found him and Maverik in the woods somewhere in northern  Wisconsin, miraculously not frozen to death. That part, while remaining a mystery on the police's behalf, had always been Micheal's least favorite part. 

Thinking about this, you mindlessly grabbed an apple from off of the counter as you watched Micheal down his meds, subconsciously counting how many pills he had in his hand before he swallowed. You took a bite, your eyes almost instantly shooting open as you spit the bite out. You didn't mean to, but the sudden pain in your mouth had caused a reflex that told you it was poisoned. It wasn't (you'd be able to taste it), but it hurt like shit!

The metallic taste in your mouth returned, this time making itself a lot more prominent than it had been before. Blood was filling your mouth, and because you weren't actually fighting someone, it was harder to handle. 

You calmly walked over to the sink, leaning over so you could spit out the cup's worth of blood you had in your mouth. Ah yes, because you know, you didn't need  _that_ to survive at all. 

You were just glad the massive headache you'd had earlier had gone away.

"Y/n are you--"

"No thanks to you, asshole." you sighed. Why would you let Micheal finish anyway? He was the one who fucking hit you.

"Yeah, but I didn't think I hit you that hard, okay? Christ, I was just trying to make sure you were okay!" Micheal's eyebrows furrowed, but you could tell that he wasn't going to get mad at you. If anything, he looked guilty.

Guilt... 

You wondered if he ever felt guilty. 

Well, no. You really wondered  _how_  much guilt he felt. You knew it was there, you could see it when he asked about someone, or when he stormed off into his room. You could see it in the realization that he'd hurt someone. 

But how did he  _feel_  it? How did it fuck with him? Did it affect him the way it affected you?

As you thought about Micheal, you realized something. 

All this time, all the fighting. You refrained from using your powers because you didn't find it fair. (Just because you didn't use morals with HYDRA, doesn't mean you don't have them). However, if he hit you and caused you to bite the tip of your tongue off, no matter how strong he could be, there was something that was up. Something was wrong about that image. 

What's worse is the fact that... your tongue wasn't really regenerating. You didn' think it was weird at first, it usually took a while to regenerate anything because you weren't really "built" to. However, this seemed to be different. The bite was scabbing over instead of rebuilding, and you never really bled while regenerating. 

(The fact that you didn't realize you'd been missing part of your tongue sooner was astonishing, but also not surprising. Once, in Siberia, your toe was cut off, and you didn't notice until you looked down to find it in the middle of regenerating. )

What if...?

"Micheal," saying the  _L_  hurt, but you ignored it, "Can I ask you a personal question?" 

Micheal almost smiled, "Sure, but if you ask me about how my tits are doing again I'll give ya a black eye." he joked. It was nice to see him trying to be nice, but it almost felt fake. It almost always felt fake when Micheal was nice or playful-- like he was being plastic. Hiding something, maybe.

What if...?

"Do you have any abilities?" You weren't joking. There wasn't a smile or hint of humor.

Why did Micheal look so uneasy?

"Why would you--"

You raised a hand, "Just answer my question. Please." You were looked down, but after a moment you forced yourself to look into Micheal's eyes and search. Search for a lie, a truth,  _something_  that gave you an answer. 

Unfortunately, to your dismay, all you got was confusion and panic. 

"I-- no. I've always been 100% human, Y/n." Micheal answered, probably throwing the insult without meaning to. 

If someone were to ask, you'd probably say that his words didn't hurt.  _100% human_ , yeah. It's not like you are, but you were once. You clung to it, too. It was part of what kept you sane. (But in a sort of "Frank Castle" way, so... maybe not as sane as you thought.)

Whatever he said, you didn't believe him. 

Thankfully, you had enough common sense to save the discussion for a different time and place. More specifically, with another Avenger in the room. 

"Y/n, why would you ask something like that?" Micheal asked, his eyes squinting with a piercingly curious look.

"I was curious...?" you shrugged, giving him a weird look that said "duh", just to throw him off. Micheal's IQ had yet to be determined, but based off of the amount of reading you' d seen him do, you weren't guessing he was particularly book-smart, which would ultimately (based off of the system) lower the "IQ". 

Thankfully, Micheal believed your bullshitted answer. He wasn't dumb when it came to street-smarts, so that also meant your acting was still pretty good. 

With that, you decided to just let him be. 

"Gimme your pills, Strange will let you have 'em in the morning," you said, pausing as you walked by.

Micheal frowned but obliged. He grabbed the two bottles and shoved them into your hands, which then went into your pocket. 

Micheal said he doesn't have powers, but last time you checked it took a lot more than an angry teenager to make you bite through your tongue. 

Your monthly physical exams were coming up (something the team did because the state asked them to). As you walked up to Bruce's lab you figured you'd just mention the possibility to him and he'd check it out with the DNA samples they usually collect. 

Another sigh left your lips as you crept up the stairs. It's not like it was a stealth op of anything, but you didn't want to sound like an elephant, either. 

As you entered the lab, you were met by a warm, nervous smile.

The lab was... similar to the way it looked when you got here. Glass everywhere, computers, weird lighting some places, LED lighting others. It was... pretty. 

"Can I help you?" Bruce took his glasses to look at you.

Your figures tightened around the half-empty bottles in your pocket.

"Yeah, uh..." you cleared your throat, "Can we talk?" 

.  .  .  .

 

 


	20. Science is Great... Until You're the Mouse

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoy!  
> Also, feel free to comment anything you think I can improve on, your thoughts, etc. I love reading them! XD

Bruce's eyes scanned you for a moment, as if assessing your situation. Of course he was going to let you speak, but...

"Are you okay?" He asked, looking empathetically intrigued. 

That was something you liked about Bruce. He cared, you know? It was nice. You knew it was especially helpful for Scarllet and Maverick to hear when they were feeling down. Or even Katie when she was feeling anxious. 

You shrugged in response, "I guess. I just came up to talk to you about a little idea I had... something I was hoping you could test?" 

Bruce tensed, but he looked intrigued. "If something happened with your powers, I think it'd be best if we had Ste--"

"No no," your hands moved up a little in defesnse, "it's not like that. My powers are fine... I think." you paused.  _Were_ your powers okay? You didn't use them during the fight, but was that why your tongue wouldn't heal? 

"You think?" Bruce asked. He was nervous, as per usual, but it was weird. It was kind of like he knew it. 

You shook your head ever so slightly, "It doesn't really matter right now." A breath, a second, a small nervous smile. "What does is the thought I had after today's... incident." This was a lot harder than you'd thought it would be. You were nervous and... anxious. You wondered if this was how Scarllet felt all the time. 

"There was an incident?" Bruce looked startled, like he hadn't heard yet. As if.

 "Yeah. Micheal and I... got into a sort of fight." you opened your mouth to show Bruce the gory mess that'd been your tongue at some point. He flinched. Hell, even you almost flinched every time you talked. (Cause dude stuff like this  _hurts_.) However, you just shrugged with understanding. 

"And that was how long ago?" Bruce asked.

You shrugged, averting your gaze, which he seemed to understand as a sign to stop there. 

"I'm not really here for me. I'm doing just fine, and even if I wasn't I wouldn't really be concerned, so..." you shrugged, "Anyway, I'm actually here about Micheal." You cleared your throat, wishing you hadn't thought this. 

"I think he has powers."

...

Now, saying that to anyone else probably would've made them laugh. I mean, they had tests for those sorts of things, right? How could you  _not_  notice something like that?!

Simple: They're all human. Even Vision has some human to him. 

The chances are Micheal's meds (curtsey of Dr. S Strange) helped to dilute his powers in a way. (Umbrella Academy Spoiler Alert) Like Vanya and her anxiety meds. Which was fine, aside from the fact that he could still use them  _without_  knowing it. Plus, Micheal hated it when people lied to him, and never trusted anyone who intentionally kept a secret from him with no intention of him finding out. So, if Stephen knew about him possibly having powers, and Micheal found out through someone else, like Bruce or Scarllet, he probably wouldn't tell Stephen the truth ever again. Or even worse for their house's ecosystem, he'd ignore Stephen's existence completely. 

Bruce didn't really react when you said that, which was actually sort of surprising. He usually looked at  _least_  a little worried. However, in this moment, he just looked like he was thinking about it. Like he was trying to decide whether or not to believe you, and the consequences of both. 

After a moment of uncomfortable silence, he shook his head. 

"That could actually be quite possible, Y/n." 

Your breath hitched. He actually agreed with you?

Bruce's eyebrows furrowed further, which didn't seem possible a few moments ago, "However, we need to be careful about this. Micheal and Maverick are sensitive about what happened." There was another pause, "And I actually think we should talk to the rest of the team about this." 

This was where you grew a little more than concerned. You were confused. Why would you need the rest of the team? What the fuck were they supposed to do? 

Bruce sighed and took his glasses -which had magically found their way back onto his face- off, rubbing his eyes to try and alleviate the sudden spike in his stress levels. 

After that, things were a blur. He sent you off so he could think things over, and you went to your room. You changed clothing, and then went to the gym. 

A fun thing about the winter soldier being created was the consequences. HYDRA had the serum after that, and they loved to use it on the "strong-willed". From there, they developed a lot of biological warfare, working on things like altering DNA in whatever way they wished, creating life from nothing, and making everything they already had more efficient. 

That's where you came in.

After you were taken, your memory was altered, along with your DNA and such. After you were considered to be a person in "peak physical condition", they ran a lot of tests on you. From there, they tortured you until your cells mutated more than once. 

After a while, you were able to escape. You re-entered the world as a normal orphan, until you were hopefully adopted. That's mainly why it wasn't surprising when you saw Tony in your foster home a year back.

As you worked on the bags, your mind wandered. It was quiet, and you couldn't help but wonder what your brother would think of you now. 

You shook your head, hitting the bag harder.

Your mother would be scared of you.

You hit harder.

Your father--

You hit the bag again, watching as it flew across the room before you could fully finish your thought.

You sniffed as you went to retrieve the bag and check for holes. And sure enough, as you got closer, you could see the sand spilled over the once clean floor. 

A sigh.

_Your father would think you're a monster._

...


	21. Hearts Cool Quickly and Betrayal's A Bitch

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yes yes yes, I know it's been forever, but hey I'm alive so I guess there's that. I don't plan on abandoning this story anytime soon I just had a lot to do so here you guys go I hope you enjoy. (And as always, I read every comment and always love hearing any advice you have)

Sitting upright, you loudly sighed as you ran your hands through your hair. Your fingers tangled, you got them out, it was fine. It's all fine.

But what if it really... wasn't?

Your curiosity got the better of you as you sat to think. Well, you were trying to think, anyway.

_You should-- no._

A pause.

_Well..._

It was illegal, but you wanted answers. They were so attainable, too.

 _So is imprisonment._ You thought.

...

It only took you about five more minutes of battling with your conscience, and not long after that to hack into HYDRA's files, and the 'AVENGER INITIATIVE' files.

After that, it was just sorting through everything you thought was connected, and everything you thought was stuff to ask about another day. (An Example would be the weird shit you'd seen on some of the adoption sheets you saw.)

When you saw it, and you pieced it together, your breath just kind of... stopped. Your eyes went wide, and you felt a shiver down your spine. 

Slamming your laptop closed, you begin to panic. 

"Y/n L/n, are you alright? Do I need to inform..." that was the last thing you heard F.R.I.D.A.Y. say before the blackout that ensued moments later. 

...

You woke up, strapped to a stretcher in the lab, an IV strip in your arm, and both Tony and Stephen at your side, staring at you intensely. The sound of a heartbeat-- your heartbeat-- rang out from the monitor next to you, telling everyone that you were awake, yet calm. You didn't really understand what'd happened for a few moments, but you started to remember what'd happened before you'd blacked out. 

The file you'd put together under the 'AVENGER INITIATIVE'  having to deal with Micheal was printed and on the table next to you, a picture of your foster brother peaking out. 

As you looked at it,  you felt the panic swell in your chest again. You didn’t really remember why, until the golden America boy himself walked in with a glare that could kill off all the bloodlines of everyone in the building. (Or in simpler terms, he was  _not_  happy, and looked like he’d gotten literally zero hours of sleep.) You observed the hickeys on his neck, but decided to think nothing of it as you met his gaze with a stern look of your own. (Look at the balls on you, eh?)

“Steve, you look upset. Do you want to talk about it?” Bad move on your behalf, but you didn’t so much as look as he clenched his jaw and fists, narrowing his eyes at you angrily.

You noticed the way Tony cringed, and the way Stephen held back a sigh. Your heart rate monitor beep faster, but you didn’t visibly react in any other way. The panic in your chest was still there, but it was growing quieter in comparison to your quickly growing rage.

“You might as well tell me when my funeral is, cause y’all look like you’re gonna kill me.” You sighed, trying to lighten up because for some reason they couldn’t. This had been far from the first time you’d passed out from an anxiety attack, so how was this time different? Did you actually die this time? (If so, why the fuck would they care?)

You heard a sigh come from behind you, which caused you not to flinch, but instead slowly look behind the stretcher as much as you could manage. It was Bruce, Natasha, Clint (who honestly look pretty happy and amused), T’challa, Rhodey, a pouting Wade Wilson, and finally, the infamous Nicholas Fury.

Aside from Clint, Fury actually didn’t look mad at you. He looked more amused or impressed, and you had no doubt in your mind someone had called him cause they had no idea what the fuck they were going to do with you.

“Fury.” you tried to nod.

Nick nodded back, then slowly moved past Banner to your “bed” side. After a moment of looking into your eyes, which you didn’t really understand at first, he began to undo the straps of your arms. For the entirety of you being awake, you had barely moved, and the restraints hadn’t moved much either. You were in an almost completely calm state, with understandable amounts of anger and panic.

Bruce reached a hand out, “Don’t.” he sternly muttered.

You felt a ping of something similar to betrayal, but you pushed it aside.

“She’s not a threat anymore, Dr.” Fury stared him down as he spoke, pausing on his job loosening the restraints, “She hasn’t moved since she woke up, and she’s in no position to be talked to.” He undid the rest of the strap on your left hand, moving in to work on your arm’s strap, “Besides, it’s not like you don’t have the ability to debilitate her  _without_ the straps is it?”

There was silence.

“That’s what I thought.”

The silence continued.

…

It didn’t take long for you to be sitting on the edge of the couch in the Living room. What did take forever, though, was the conversation that ensued.

“Is anyone gonna tell me why I was strapped to a stretcher with an IV? Cause, not gonna lie, that’s something I’ve been curious about.” Y/n asked.

Everyone in the room was quiet for a moment. You wondered if it’d have been the same way with your siblings, or if they’d have gotten to the point with you by now. Well, you were almost sure that they would’ve gotten to the point because Micheal was really bad about hiding his feelings about other people’s flaws. That’s one of the (many) reasons people didn’t usually like him. (He was also just really aggressive, but that’s just a part of him now.)

Thankfully, Wade quickly got tired of all the quiet.

Unfortunately for him, he started everything off by laughing.

“C’mon everyone,” he chuckled, “Why’re you being so serious about this? You would’ve had to tell her eventually, so things are out of the way now, right?” he held a smile for a moment before quickly dropping it and rolling his eyes. “You all are seriously a bunch of stuck ups,” he dug his palms into his eyes, “She was literally trained to find answers when she needed them, then you encouraged the behavior, and kept secrets from her. It’s not that hard to think through and find her reasoning!” Another exasperated groan.

Steve gave Wade a side glare, “Are you blaming us for this?” he asked, his voice gruff and angry.

“Well, it’s not that I’m blaming you captain red-white-and-blue-all-over. However, I  _will_  agree to you accusing me of saying that Y/n isn’t entirely at fault, but that’s mainly because she’s not entirely at fault. Catch my drift?” Wade winked with a smile.

Steve was admittedly confused by most things that came out of Wade’s mouth, but he nodded nonetheless.

“Who would you blame then?” Fury asked, looking more amused than having previously been. He moved forward, his chin resting on his hands as his elbows sat upon his knees.

“Well, Y/n hacked the Avengers and HYDRA and S.H.I.E.L.D., sure, but she also gathered all the information to put the pieces together and spare you guys the burden of having to go to  _her_  and tell her yourselves. She did you a bit of a favor. Plus, wasn’t she doing what y’all were telling her to? Hacking people and finding information isn’t just a HYDRA thing she can’t get rid of. It’s also a tiny baby thing that you took in and raised, encouraged to have grandkids, and live  _with_  you instead of in its own house where it belongs. You played the cool parent and said  _I’d rather you do it in the house_  when, heads up, that still causes addiction.” Wade laughed, “And then it blew up in your faces!” he lightly exclaimed, his voice breathy as he let out a small laugh, “The funny part is how mad you are about this! It’s like a tiny teen tantrum.” his shoulders shrugged, “And it’s so cute!” he squealed, patronizingly.

You smiled, Wade was your favourite for a reason. He was usually pretty funny, and he always stood up for the kids, unless it was a matter of safety. This, apparently, didn’t seem to be a matter of safety and Wade thought you were completely fine and far from endangering anyone. Hearing that in his voice made you feel a lot better than you had waking up, and some of your panic went away.

“So… what did I do after I blacked out then?” You asked, surprised at how quiet you were being. Then again, it was really hard to follow the conversation. It was kinda like they sounded farther away than they were, and you were kind of zoning out.

“You just startled Steve and Bucky with some violent questions last night. You were reading his mind very violently, so your eyes were glowing as per usual, and it was dark so they didn’t know it was you right away. They were very alarmed in their vulnerable state so they attacked you. You’ve been out for three days without anyone aside from Bruce, Tony and Stephen to see you. We called Fury yesterday to ask what to do since Bucky doesn’t... “ Clint paused, trying to find the right words.

“Randomly turn into a psychotic animal like you,” Steve growled. (Much to your amusement.)

You smiled, “Wow, so venomous, Steve, I’m hurt. Truly.” then mockingly snapped your jaw in his direction, laughing only moments afterward.

After another breath, you thought for a moment, realizing what you’d just heard about you doing. You weren’t actually psychotic… were you? Your smile dropped and you were no longer looking at any particular person, but more so at the ground. You really like Steve and Buck. they were a cute couple, and they did a really good job of making sure Chloe was taken care of, and they loved Katie just as much, even if she wasn’t technically their responsibility.

A sigh left your lips, “Look, Steve, I really don’t mean to randomly freak out, and you should know that I’ve been working on it.” You lick your lips.  _Huh, they’re chapped. Not surprising._ “And I’m glad you love Bucky enough to see past his flaws, but ignoring them is just plain ignorant.” You look up at Steve now, starting to feel the anger again as he looks back at you, his eyes cold.

“I was with James while he was busy being the Winter Soldier. He trained me as his understudy for a long time, and if you really think that he didn’t have control of himself back then I honestly feel sorry for you.” You were lying, all you could feel was rage, but you didn’t care. You’d feel sorry for him later.

“Bucky raged out just like me, if not worse. He had little to no control over his mind back then. It literally took him years of mental torture and assistance to get to where he is today with you. Now I’m glad that you love Bucky and I’m happy that he trusts you, but doing something so…” You were raising your voice now. You didn’t mean to, but you also didn’t really care. “So childish and fucking revolting! James was like a really scary father to me when I needed it and dismissing all of his progress, while trying to take a swing at me? Wow, Mr. Fucking America would he be ashamed of you! That’s probably why he’s not here right now, huh? You sent him away so he couldn’t sympathize with me and try to defend me?”

Nat gave you a look you had yet to see and couldn’t quite place. “Y/n, that’s not--” You cut her off. Right now, there was nobody with high authority on your side, aside from maybe Nick Fury who still had yet to say something.

“Can I go now? I’m tired.” despite the fact that you’d been out for three days (which, now that you think about it, kinda shocked you) you hadn’t really  _slept_. You were unconscious, not resting, not sleeping, unconscious. The more you listened to everyone talk to you, the more you just wanted to curl up and sleep.

The seconds passed by, and the room was silent. Every moment just weighed you further down. Fury was looking at everyone, who were just staring at you. Eventually, he and Tony locked eyes, and they nodded.

“Y/n, go rest. We’ll call you to a  _whole_  team meeting later.” Nick jerked his head in the direction of the door, and you took that as you que.

With that, you sighed, standing up and halfway through realizing you had a lot less strength than you realized. You stumbled and fell, which had Steve immediately on his feet to try and help you. 

You could feel your eyes glow with anger as your gaze met his within a millisecond of him moving to help you.

“Don’t fucking touch me.” you spat, almost choking because it felt like you had broken your finger when you landed of your hands and you’d started tearing up.

Now, saying this any other day probably wouldn’t have made Steve back off, but the sheer betrayal in your voice, the pure rage directed solely towards him, and the fact that you had choked up with tears in your eyes caused him not only to back off, but also caused him to regret the past three days of hatred he’d held towards you.

With that, you somehow managed to push yourself up and walk to your room, only daring to cradle your hand after you rounded one of the many corners of the big, now pretty empty mansion.

Sleeping wasn’t easy at first, but once asleep you didn’t dream (a true gift from whatever God was up there). Instead, you were in the void, softly breathing and actually relaxed once.

You were at peace. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hope you enjoyed! I'm starting the next chapter soon so don't worry!  
> Feel free to comment! Questions? I'm happy to answer if I can.  
> Have a nice morning/evening/day!


	22. A New Feeling

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoy!  
> Also, feel free to comment anything you think I can improve on, your thoughts, etc. I love reading them! XD

 

You woke up to Katie, coming to cuddle up with you. You smiled, your eyes opening because you knew you probably wouldn't be able to sleep again for a while.

Katie didn't look tired as she laid there next to you. Instead, she looked more... scared. You looked closer to see that she probably had tears in her eyes.

"Katie--"

You felt something on your arm. A tear.

"They're saying they want to take you away." Katie sniffled, "They're telling and fighting," a harsh, stuttered breath, "A-and they think you're evil!" she cried, curling into you more, "But you're not evil! You're the bestest most kindest person ever!" She sniffed, "Even Maverik and Choe like you!" she whimpered.

Katie's small hands clung to your t-shirt as her hot tears soaked the sheets under your arms. You squeezed her a bit, tears forming in your eyes as well. They wouldn't fall, but they wanted to.

"Katie," you sniffed, "Sometimes, nice people do bad things." You sniffed yourself, wondering if this is how your past would finally catch up to you... how it would finally win.

"And, for a lot of people, it's hard to look past the bad things to see the person. A lot of people think that if you do bad things, you  _are_  a bad person--"

"But Ironman isn't like that!" Katie wailed, "He's a superhero! He should know better!"

You chuckled and sniffed, "And I'm sure he does, Katie. I'm almost positive he's on my side in this argument." You smiled, "But Steve and Sam aren't quite like that when it comes to me. I've done a lot of bad things, and they don't think they were against my wanting to, so they..." another sniff as your smile thinned, "They don't trust me as much." You sniffed again, hoping this would somehow make her feel better.

"And it's not that they want me to be taken away..." you took a deep breath, "they just... they want you guys to be safe. They think I'm going to do more bad things, and more bad choices." You shrugged, "And it's not true, but they also don't mean me any harm. They just want to keep you guys safe. They're looking out for you." You forced a smile and she looked at you.

"Does that make sense, love?" you sniffed, hoping she wouldn't see how hurt you'd been by the news.

Katie nodded, sniffing and wiping her nose. "Yeah, that makes sense."

A genuine smile appeared on your face. "Good." You took a small breath, "Now how about we go get you some ice cream? You look like you could use some chocolate and vanilla." You offered, your nerves calming ever so slightly when you saw the happier look on her face.

She wasn't happy, but she also wasn't scared, or feeling as helpless anymore.

....

When you went downstairs, you grit your teeth, frowned, immediately picked Katie up, and turned around.

The kitchen, while mostly untouched, was right next to an argument that was only unheard from your room due to your room's soundproofing. Other than that, their arguing was so loud a Carl Fredrickson would've gone completely deaf if he'd heard it.

Katie had started to freak out again when she saw the look on your face, so you smiled a little and gave her a look that said  _it'll be okay_.

"Hey, chin up KitKat, this'll be over in a jiff." You beamed, rage flowing through your veins.

There was no doubt in your mind that the fighting was causing Micheal and Maverik to have flashbacks, Scarllet was probably having panic attacks, if not anxiety attacks, and Malissa was probably trying to console her.

Then there was Chloe, who, no doubt, blamed herself for this.

You stopped by all of their rooms, saying nothing as you nodded for them to follow you. One by one, you took all the breaking kids to your room, where they didn't have to listen to the fight, and could listen to whatever music they wanted to instead.

Then, a small trip later, you had some chips, salsa, ice cream, etc. for them too.

"I shouldn't be too long," You told them with a smile, "but if I am, there's no need to worry, I'll be fine."

With that, you turned and closed the door behind you. Your smile fell, and there was a new feeling of anger in you.

You only hoped it wouldn't get the best of you.


	23. Forget The Pan, Straight Into The Fire

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay, so this gets... interesting. I'm not going to tell you how things go in the future, but know that this is a very dramatic turn and I guess I just wanted to warn you a bit before I posted it. I'll answer questions as long as it doesn't spoil anything, so feel free to ask away  
> Feel free to comment your thoughts, opinions, etc.! I love reading them   
> Happy reading :)

  You walked down the stairs seeing red, your eyes probably glowing as you couldn't help but hear the numerous amounts of thoughts running through everyone's heads. Complete focus wasn't there. The world blurred, mixed with reds and blacks. Accents of sunlight making everything feel like the Greybeyond from  _Lord of The Rings_  after Frodo had put the ring on.

When you get to the living room, you don't stop. The room quiets as everyone starts to stare. Within moments, you have a full room of eyes on you. Their thoughts won't stop, they're clouding your mind like smoke in a strip club.

Through all the noise, you heard Steve speak.

"Y/n, what're you--" his voice was low, like he was talking to an enemy, so you had no moral conflict in interrupting him.

"All of  _your_  kids are neurodivergent, and are currently suffering." You practically growled, "And yet you guys are continuing to argue  _so LOUD_  without  _ANY_  consideration for  _your_  children-- the children  _you_ chose to adopt  _and take care of_." you spit, your hands balling into fists.

You saw Bucky's face go pale. He glanced at the exit.

A dry chuckle escaped your lips. "You really think they want to see you? After everything they've just listened to?" another sarcastic huff. "Why don't we settle this somewhere they won't hear you?"

Snap.

Your hand was still up when Steve's shield hit your face. Your jaw dislocated-- or maybe it broke. You weren't quite sure. Either way, you took your hand, which was still in its previous position of post-snapping, and used it to relocate your jaw. Seconds later it was healed.

"I'd like to say I'm a very sympathetic person, Steve," You took a breathe, still overwhelmed by the overlapping voices that were composed of everyone's thoughts, "That's why I'm maintaining my composure."

Another breath. You blink.

"However, becoming unhinged and attacking me out of nowhere won't do anyone any good for multiple reasons." you frowned, "I figured, since you'd been the one to teach Maverick that, that you too would understand the concept." your frown deepened, "But I guess being wrong is today's family trend." you sigh.

The place you'd transported everyone wasn't actually real. Technically, they were all still in the living room, passed out. Would you tell them that yet? No, but it helped when you thought about Steve throwing his shield at you thinking it'd actually do anything to you. He  _had_  seen you fight, after all.

So yes, instead of actually attempting to teleport them anywhere (which was only something you'd  _thought_  you might be able to do), you made it  _look_  like you'd teleported them to Château du Guildo, Créhen, France. They were awkwardly standing in the ruins' courtyard during a chill, starry night.

You made things as realistic as possible to evade any suspicion. However, Tony, who was just wearing a tee-shirt, was almost shakey with his arms crossed because you hacked into everyone's hypothalamus (which controls how you feel temperature--Bruce had you learn the known parts of the brain to make your job "easier") so they could  _feel_  their surroundings. You used to do things like this for HYDRA as a method of torture, but you tried not to let those types of thoughts enter your mind right now. You didn't need that. You needed to stay focused and concrete.

The more you thought about the way Katie looked at you as you looked

Around at the people your siblings called parents, the more your anger started to boil.

"Now that we have you out of the house," you forced yourself to calm down a little, rubbing the very realistic pain that was still present in your cheek, "What in the  _fucking UNIVERSE WAS THAT ABOUT?!_ " You didn't quite scream, but you wanted to--oh  _how_ you wanted to.

The so-called  _Avengers_ just looked down for a moment.

Then, of  _course_ , Steve fucking spoke up.

"Well," he looked around at his teammates, which apparently didn't include you anymore. What a shame. "Some of us don't think you should be... included on the team anymore."

A laugh, one that was so dry and sarcastic, it almost became real, left your lips. "That's rich." You chuckled, wiping a fake tear from your eye.

"Y/n, they're serious." Tony gave you a concerned dad look.

Your semi-forced smile dropped, "I know how serious he is, Tony." You Looked over to Sam, already knowing he was probably on Steve's side. He always was, after all, "They think I'm still controlled by HYDRA. They think I'm a double agent."

Sam stepped up, "HYDRA has nothing to do with this."

Vision chimed in for a moment, "Y/n, we think you're... unstable." he looked at you with a sincerity that no one else seemed capable of, "We only wish to expand your mental stability in order to prevent more outburst that could possibly cause harm towards others. Particularly Katie, and her siblings."

Tony stepped up, now just as angry as he probably was before, "Y/n wouldn't lay a  _finger_  on that girl and you know it!" he furiously spat, his hands shaking as he angrily pointed a finger at Vision.

"Tony, we're not saying she'd  _want_  to do anything." Steve seemed desperate to make Tony understand, you realized he'd probably been trying all night and getting nowhere. "No one in their right mind would want to hurt that little girl, but--"

"And when was the last time Y/n was in the wrong mindset?" Pietro asked, stepping up to Steve boldly, "When was the last time she did anything without a reason?" he asked, his arms disdainfully swinging at his sides.

Rhodey gave him a pointed look, "What do you call  _hacking into our locked files and illegally copying them to her laptop?_ " he asked.

"I call it finding the answers she should've had access to in the first place as a member of the Avengers." Wanda looked at Rhodey like she was reminding him of the fact that she could tear him to pieces in a matter of moments, and that she was definitely thinking about it.

"That's like giving Peter access to all of our files" Natasha rolled her eyes.

"He has access to all of our files," Tony corrected, "He's just too distressingly polite to look through them without our permission." He added.

Peter, who wasn't too far away, nodded. "I feel bad if I don't ask Mr. Stark first, but I do have access to everything, just like Mr. Stark and Steve," he told them. "I thought Y/n had full access too, so I didn't really think anything of it when I heard she hacked us, because what else are you supposed to do when you don't have the password and everyone else is asleep, right?" He nervously chuckled and watched himself shift his feet due to the vast amounts of attention he'd just accidentally earned.

"Besides, what's it to you anyway?" Clint just looked done with everyone, "We're prepared to deal with her if she does lose her shit, which isn't going to happen btw," he paused to take a sip from the coffee pot no one had noticed he had, "and it's not like she's as difficult as Barnes was!" Another sip, "Like, I love the kids as much, if not more, than you do, but she's not a threat to them. They love each other too much." He gave Steve a side look, "Almost like you and Barnes," he commented, proceeding to take a long, loud drink of his coffee as the rest of the world processed what he'd said.

Steve blushed, but didn't let Clint get to him.

"I still think that we just need to make sure--"

"What, exactly?" you snapped, "Because, I don't think there's literally  _anything_  for  _you_  to be worried about, Steve." You'd slowly become calmer in this atmosphere. It wasn't getting out of hand anymore, and it was more of a debate now. However, hearing Steve had caused your blank expression to fade into a blatantly irritated frown/scowl situation.

"We just want to make sure you're... yourself." Sam tried to reason, "We want to make sure you're well enough to have full control of yourself--"

"So it is about HYDRA?" you interjected, already knowing how the rest of his statement would've sounded.

No one said anything.

You scoffed, "unbelievable." you look up to the heavens you hoped didn't have to see this, "To think I believed you when you told me I was a part of the team. That you  _thought I was all better_  and  _wanted me here because I made a good edition_." you threw your hands up as tears started to form in your eyes, "And all that other complete  _bullshit_  you were feeding me." You laughed, your voice breaking, "When all you really wanted was another helpless  _mess_  that wanted nothing more than to try and make up for all the  _horrible_ things they'd done. You wanted someone just trying to change-- because after James, Pietro, Wanda, really everyone here, you just couldn't get enough. You just  _love_ a sob story, huh?!" You sniffed, looking down at everyone around. Most everyone just had their heads down in shame.

You smiled, nodding as the tears started to fall. The overlapping voices weren't helping, but you could barely hear them anymore. Not over the quickly developing silence that your brain demanded.

"Not even a word." You continue to nod, not knowing what else to do, "I get it. I see." A sad, sinister smile appears on your face as an idea popped into your head.

"That's alright," You stopped nodding, smiling at the floor and whispering, "that just means you won't mind when I leave."

With that statement, you look up just in time to see everyone's final face of panic before--

Snap.

 


	24. Throwing Myself A Pity Party, And Guess What--You’re Not Invited

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So... this chapter is short and sweet, but don't get too worked up about it because things always work themselves out in stories,, right?  
> Lmao anyway, feel free to comment your thoughts, feelings, questions, etc. I love reading them xD  
> (Psst, this chapter is dedicated to Megan cause your comment was really nice and I greatly appreciate the idea!)

When you opened your eyes, you were back in the living room, surrounded by everyone you'd thought actually cared about you as friends or parents might.

You sniffed, no longer letting your tears fall, nor form. You continued by tilting your head up high, and walking right over the still sleeping Avengers as you made your way to your room.

As soon as you were out of the living room, you started to run. Fast. They wouldn't stay sleeping for long. Especially Bucky, who'd looked so guilty before you left...

When you got to your room, you were greeted by anxiously curious kids.

You shook your head, taking a short moment to find your words. "I have to go, guys." You sniffed, the tears returning for a reason you yourself didn't even understand. "I-- I'll be back, eventually, but I can't just--  _stay_  here right now." You concentrate as you move faster than you had in a long, long time.

You didn't gather much, just the things you felt would aid you the most for the upcoming period of time. You didn't know where to go...

Then again, you didn't care. You needed air. You needed space.

You just needed to  _think_  for Christ's sake.

Once you had gathered your things, you gave Katie a quick kiss on the forehead. "I'll be back before you know it KitKat. Okay? I just--" A deep breath as you tried to calm your nerves, "I need to give the team a break. A lot of them are having troubles thinking clearly, and I think I should give them a bit of a break from me." You told her, as sweetly as you could. Maybe, if you treated this as a completely rational and logical decision, it would become one. Maybe it would seem less selfish, and less cruel. Maybe, just maybe, it'd sound less monumental and screwed up.

 Katie, while knowing that what you were probably lying when you said you'd be back soon, nodded in agreement anyway, giving you her full and undenied trust.

You looked to Maverick, who was giving you the concerned look of a lifetime, "Watch over them, Maverick. I shouldn't be gone too long, but they'll be pretty upset."

Maverick nodded, not saying anything as you lept from the window as opposed to leaving through the door.

What went by unnoticed by everyone else, though, was the moment you saw Micheal shove the folder with his name into his jacket. The two of you exchanged a look, and you only hoped things would be okay in your absence.

You needed this, you told yourself.

This would benefit everyone.

With those falsehoods in your mind, you took one last breath before jumping from your window, plummeting down the side of the tower.

You'd taken higher falls then this, but you were hoping you'd never reach the ground. If you did, it wouldn't take Tony long to find you regenerating as a pile of bones at the back of the tower.

So, hoping you could do this, you closed your eyes and took a long breath. You thought of the compound, where Tony had originally put you so you could train as an Avenger.

 _Think, Y/n, think!_ You scolded yourself, forcing every detail you could imagine into your head.

Snap.

Your eyes quickly opened when you abruptly landed on a smooth, concrete floor with no more than a mere bruise.

Moments later, you got up, a drunken like happiness spreading across your features as you took in the familiar compound setting.

 _Y/n,_  you thought,  _you can teleport._

...... 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thanks for reading <3


	25. It's Hard To Find Friends When You've Been The Bad Guy

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Okay so you might be wondering wtf is going in w the chapters. SO I'm gonna explain really quick.  
> I have about 3 or 4 places I update. (I write in Google Docs, then transfer everything to Wattpad, Tumblr, and ao3)   
> In this process, I accidentally posted chapter 24 here instead of 23, so y'all read ahead. Then I forgot to post here for a couple of days. So, you should probably go back and read from chapter 23, so I don't accidentally confuse y'all.  
> I'm very sorry for the mishap, and it shouldn't happen again.   
> Thank you for understanding, I'll answer questions in the comments if you have them. :)

An intense feeling of happiness was, unfortunately, rare for you, so this felt like a moment of pure ecstasy. A bonus was that you'd also managed to bring all of your stuff along with you.

However, you couldn't stay in the compound. In fact, unless someone was willing to hide you, you probably couldn't stay anywhere for long. You had no doubt that Tony would track you. The real question is whether or not he'd trust the rest of the team to tell them where you are.

It took a few minutes, but you soon had a destination in mind, and you were quickly imagining it.

Now getting there took a little longer (probably because you were pretty sure you weren't on the verge of immense amounts of pain), but you were in Amsterdam in a matter of seconds.

Although, much to your rapidly beating heart's surprise, you were also in the middle of a busy street.

You dodged a car, jumping onto the pavement, where you almost got run over by a fucking cyclist. This was scary and all, but it got ten times worse when you almost got run over by  _another fucking cyclist_.

Ugh, and to think not that long ago you'd come back home to think this would be a nice week with the family. Oh, how the times change.

With a short sigh, you look around you, realizing this... wasn't where you really wanted to be. Where you wanted to be was home, but then again, you weren't really sure where that was anymore. Were you supposed to consider HYDRA home? Your house back in Brooklyn? The Avengers tower?

The questions were jumbled-- jumbled to the point where it was starting to get to you. It was... confusing, to say the least. Focussing on it made you dizzy.

So, you closed your eyes and focused on a place that felt as close to a home as you would be welcome in right now.

.

..

...

.....

....

...

..

.

When you opened your eyes, you smiled, happy to find yourself in Nelson and Murdock (Attorney at Law) 's office. You knew that here, out of anywhere, you'd be welcomed with open arms. You were also happy to admit you could get past Matt, the human lie detector, without him calling you out on your bullshit. (At least so far, anyway.)

You were glad to see that they were also there. Karen and Foggy looked a little shocked by your presence, but Matt was smiling.

"Y/n," he smiled, "it's good to see you again." he joked, a hand coming to greet you. Apparently, they hadn't really been working.

Well no, they'd been arguing, but that didn't matter. They usually tried not to argue in front of you anyway.

With that, you smiled, "Nice to hear you too, Matt." you joked in reply. He laughed and shook his head.

"It's always jokes with you, huh?" He chuckled again.

"Lmao they're funny so why not spread some smiles, right?" You blushed, glad he couldn't see it. He could probably feel the microscopic raise in temperature though.

"Y/n, why're you here exactly?" Foggy asked, looking at your arm skeptically. You must've gotten scrapes from almost getting run over five-billion times.

You gave him an equally skeptical look, "Since when is it illegal to visit old friends?" You asked, still trying to maintain you usually chill composure. Never once have  _they_  had to chew  _you_ out before. And since it looks like they were just in the middle of a grand argument, you didn't want this time to be the first.

Looks like fate didn't want to give you what you wanted.

"I can taste the fact that you have scrapes all over your arms, Y/n." Matt chuckled, probably trying to seem chill so you'd open up.

Your smile kind of faded as you looked at your arm, and you sighed, wondering if you should even bother talking to them. 

 See, the problem with your relationship with this small team, was that you usually liked to get  _away_  from your problems with them, not talk about them and try to figure them out and all that. Yeah no. That's not something you really did with anyone. (Except occasionally Peter or Pietro, because they know the best places in the city.)

So, you sighed, and with a heavy heart, spoke.

"I... I've gotta go..." You start to concentrate on a new destination, "But if anyone asks, you never saw me. You didn't even know I was missing."

There was chatter. They asked you questions. They even tried to hold onto you. It didn't matter though, they were all gone soon. You'd disappeared.

_Monster._

You were in... Jessica Jones's office....

"Uhh..." You frowned, "I didn't mean to come here... How's she going to help me?" You asked yourself, "I doubt she remembers me, so that means she'll probably kill me so I--"

"Well you're right about one thing," Someone spoke up from behind you, "I don't remember you," She was holding a beer bottle, and she didn't look alarmed in the slightest.

"Cool power ya got there. Can you use it to get out of my apartment?" She asked, sounding less harsh than you'd thought she would.

The two of you had only met once, but it was long enough for you to have read her brain by the time you two parted ways. What you got from her was that she was a good person, but she didn't do good things because they didn't work for her. She didn't want to spend her life being endlessly disappointed by the faulty methods Matt or Ironfist may use, so she created her own, sort of legal way to go. Some would call her a bad person, some would call her a misguided saint. Either way, at the core of everything, she strived to realistically help people where she could, so she did.

You smiled at Jessica, trying your best not to feel sad about your situation. The last thing you needed was a pity party. Thankfully, Jessica was not one to pity people. Maybe she as the type of person you needed right now.

"Theoretically, yes." You answered, "But I came here without intending to, so I'm not really sure if I can. Y'know?" You shrugged, turning to fully face Jessica.

Jessica sniffed, taking a swig of her beer, "Sure, sure..." she frowned, looking at her beer, "This brand is shittier than I remember." she sighed, taking another swing anyways.

"That's why whiskey's better." you said, "It's stronger too, so you don't have to drink as much if you don't want to." You shrugged.

Jessica squinted at you, "Aren't you a little young for whiskey?" she asked.

You smiled and chuckled, "Did your youth stop you?" you asked.

She nodded, "Point taken."

After a moment of silence, you clear your throat, checking the time once more before turning your phone completely off so the Avengers have a harder time tracking you.

Another moment went by, and you sighed, a sheepish smile coming to your face.

"So... it's getting late--"

"Beat it, kid."

"Great, I'll take the couch."

...

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed! :)


	26. If You Break An Egg With Too Much Force, You Get A Mess

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Chapter Dedicated to nyctohelio, cause you were impatient so I gave you like, three extra chapters on accident XD  
> Not sure I like the chapter name. Any suggestions?  
> Feel free to comment your thoughts, opinions, etc! I love reading them :D

As Y/n had predicted, it didn't take the Avengers very long to wake up.

Bucky, being the one who was probably the most used to waking up after events like this, was probably the first one to get up. After realizing what had just gone down was actually  _really_   _bad and holy fuckheneedstofixthisri--_

Longer story shorter, he got to Y/n's room pretty quickly, quietly, and dramatically.

When he got to Y/n's room, he remembered what she'd said.

**_They don't want to see you._ **

The memory got to him, the way y/n had looked so betrayed...

Bucky shook the feeling of guilt off, forcing himself to knock on the door in front of him.

 Micheal was the one to greet him, his angry sneer accompanied by red eyes and a pink nose.

"I'm sorry, but the orphans aren't taking any bullshit right now, so get the fuck out of here, asshole," he growled, already starting to aggressively close the door.

Bucky shoved his metal arm between the door and the frame before it could close, "Please, wait!" He sniffed, unable to handle his guilt anymore, "Nobody else is with me. I just want to make sure you're all okay." He said, his voice quiet and filled with a yet-to-be-matched depression.

A pause and a moment go by before the pressure on Micheal's side of the door dropped.

Then, proceeding with caution, Bucky slowly pushed the door open, entered, and closed the door behind him.

When he turned and faced the kids he'd intentionally helped bring into his life, his guilt quadrupled.

Katie was cuddled up in Micheal's lap, fast asleep with puffy eyes and a red nose. A half-eaten tub of ice cream sat next to Maverick, who was nibbling on some  _Fritos_  as he stared at Bucky with uneased caution.

Malissa had another tub of ice cream over Scarllet's head as it sat in her lap. Scarllet was asleep, which Bucky figured had been much to her dismay.

Micheal glared up at Bucky as his eyes landed on Chloe, who looked absolutely fine-- unbothered, even. (Much to Bucky's surprise.)

"Chloe, how're you holding up?" Bucky asked gently, not wanting to wake anyone up and cause a disturbance.

The little girl looked up from her book,  _Fablehaven,_ with a blank stare, blinked once, and went back to reading.

"Look, guys, I'm sorry." Bucky was starting to crumple, wondering how he could have let these kids down so harshly. "I should have said something about the fighting, about the arguing." He sniffed, tears in his eyes as he desperately tried to maintain his own composure, "Y/n is probably gone forever and I was so worried about what they'd do to her that I completely forgot about the consequences concerning my  _own_  kids."

Bucky sighed, scanning the room of broken kids one last time before nodding and turning for the door. "You guys obviously need space to keep cooling down and everything, but just know that my door is always open and that you don't have to talk if you don't want to." 

With that, he left the room, feeling shitter than he had before Y/n had even taken them from the tower.

...

When Tony woke up, his first concern was Y/n. She said they didn't need her anymore. Was that hinting to a suicide attempt? She'd tried before he'd adopted her. Maybe it just meant she'd run away.

Maybe, just maybe, she was still there packing.

Tony raced to Y/n's room, quietly stepping over Bucky and Stephen before bolting up the stairs to his daughter's room.

_Pleasebetherepleasebetherepleasebetherepleas--_

When Tony opened the door, it was just in time to see Y/n jump out the window.

He paled.

He ran over to the window, almost tripping over Katie and Micheal, almost jumping out himself to go after her.

"Y/n!" He screamed.

But she was gone.  
_She was gone._

_She's gone, Tony._

"Relax Stark she's--" Tony turned to the mouthy Micheal and pinned him by his shoulders, ready to punch his teeth out.

"SHE'S NOT DEAD YOU FUCKING SOCIOPATH" Micheal yelled, his hands coming up and knocking Tony's ribs to get him off of him.

A quick move later and Micheal was a safe distance away from Tony.

Micheal took a breath, glaring at his so-called "dad" with a new sense of trust. Well, lack of trust was probably a more accurate term.

"Grab me like that again and you'll need dentures," Micheal muttered, smoothing his jacket out as Tony clutched his ribs.

Tony just sat there, crumpled by guilt. After a moment, he sighed.

"And I'm sorry about that. I'm sorry about everything that happened tonight, guys. I--" a huff, "I deserve more than my teeth knocked out, and you guys deserve some space from me and Steve right now." he nodded, his eyes never leaving the ground in front of him.

He opened his mouth to say something else, but he quickly decided against it. 

"Okay, now that that heart-to-heart is over, I'm going to let you guys try to get some sleep and all that. Feel free to call if you need anything, I'll be in the lab doing some research." Tony stood, quickly making his way to the door, careful not to step near anyone this time, Sleep well, kiddos." and with that, he was gone.

...

After Bucky had left, Maverick and Malissa decided they were tired, so Micheal locked the door and told them to go ahead.

"I'll keep watch, make sure y'all can sleep without disturbance," he mumbled, sitting down with a small groan.

After that, everyone else (aside from Chloe, who wouldn't say anything right now anyway) was asleep and probably dreaming. All was well.

 _Too well,_  Micheal thought, glancing over to the file he'd somewhat hidden in Y/n's closet.

After a moment, he decided there wasn't a reason  _not_  too open it and look inside. He should be able to handle it, after all.

So, throwing all caution to the wind, Micheal stretched out and grabbed the folder with his name on it, getting comfy as he opened it and began to read.

...

 


	27. It's Quiet Uptown

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This is the last chapter in this book!   
> There will be another one coming out very soon, and it'll be called "Why Stay?" and I really encourage you to check it out.   
> As always, feel free to comment your thoughts, opinions, etc cause I love reading them! :)

 

You woke up on a couch, wondering what time it was and why you had such a headache. Then you remembered why you were on a couch.

You look at the clock. It reads 1:20 a.m.

You went to mumble about how not sleeping would eventually take a toll on your health, but you saw a peacefully sleeping Jessica Jones sleeping in her room, and you decided against it.

With a quiet sigh, you carefully got up and pulled fifty bucks out of your wallet, which should be thanks enough for the stay.

Then, you took a sticky note from her desk and scribbled a small note down, carefully placing the fifty dollars next to it. With one last note on Jessica's corkboard, you smiled and leaped out the window, not making a single sound as you landed with only a bit of joint pain.

...

Jessica Jones Woke up to find you gone, her case was solved on her corkboard, and fifty dollars with a small note.

_Some money for whiskey. --Y/n ;)_

Whoever you were, Jessica made sure to remember you so she could ask you how the fuck you knew about her case when she saw you next.

...

After landing in N'Djamena, you stood tall, wondering what would become of you in the future.

Would you survive for long?

Would the Avengers find you and force you to come back?

Would HYDRA find you again?

You asked yourself so many impossible things...

Then your stomach growled, and you asked.

Where can I get some crepes?

Should I go to Paris?

A small smile formed on your lips as you looked to the rising sun as you asked yourself...

_Why not?_

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for reading! I hope you enjoyed. :D

**Author's Note:**

> I hope you enjoyed!


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